Celebrating 75 Years of Excellence!

2022 marks the University of Arizona’s R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy’s 75th anniversary. This anniversary is an opportunity for us to honor our past while we embrace our future. A lot has changed since the first class of 84 students started in September of 1947! When the school opened, we were housed in Temporary Barracks Building T-3, a surplus army prefabricated hut located just west of Bear Down Gymnasium, where the Science-Engineering Library now stands. Dean Emeritus Rufus A. Lyman, M.D. was recruited by the university and accepted the position as the director of the School of Pharmacy. A lot has happened since we opened in 1947 and we look forward to sharing your memories of our college as well as highlighting some of the achievements and events of the school, our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends – our PharmCat family -  in the coming months.

If you have a memory and photo to share, we would love to hear from you! Please send your memory and a photo (if you have one) so we can share them with our PharmCat family in our newsletter, social media, and/or on our website! Send your responses to ldominguez@pharmacy.arizona.edu

Our first memory was shared with us this week by Steven Dudley, PharmD, DABAT. Dr. Dudley is a 2015 Pharmacy School graduate and is a Clinical Toxicologist and the Director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center.  He shared this special memory with us from his time as a PharmD student: "One of my favorite things from pharmacy school was actually being able to apply what we learned in the classroom to real life scenarios. I remember participating in the Pharmacy Day on the Capitol event and meeting with Senator Steve Farley to discuss the value of pharmacists and the impact we can have in healthcare. It was great to see his and his staff's eyes light up when they recognized all the ways pharmacist involvement improve patient care. It felt great to advocate because if we don't fight for our profession, who will?"