MU| F e a t u r e s
“I like communities that have a mission and a
vision that’s about others and not necessarily
about themselves,” says Rospond, vice
president for institutional effectiveness and
dean of the College of Pharmacy, Natural
and Health Sciences. “For me, having that
commitment to mission and vision outweighs
anything else. If that wasn’t there, it wouldn’t
matter what the opportunities were.”
A pharmacy program might not have been
the last thing on Manchester President Dave
McFadden’s mind when he arrived at the
University of Charleston in West Virginia in
2005. But there weren’t many things in line
behind it.
He was in town on an accreditation visit
for the Higher Learning Commission, and
Charleston was just starting its own pharmacy
program. And at some point it occurred to
McFadden how much Charleston reminded
him of his alma mater and employer,
Manchester.
“I remember walking around thinking ‘If they
can do it, we ought to be able to do it,’” recalls
McFadden, who was Manchester’s executive
vice president at the time, and later would be
dean of the Pharmacy Program.
Not that it would be easy. Estimates were
that Manchester would need $10-12 million
to launch the program, which meant some
serious fundraising. Faculty would have to be
hired two years before the first class came in.
And students who would be willing to take a
chance on a start-up program would have to
be found.
Somehow, all of that happened.
“People were excited about the possibility
of a pharmacy program,” McFadden recalls.
“We have a very debt-averse board, but they
signed off on it knowing we would need
$10-12 million to do it. We hired a founding
dean, Phil Medon, and Phil began to hire a
leadership team.”
Clockwise from top: Love
Famuyide ’19 and Chad
Glesing ’19 work together;
Hawra Yassine ’19 helps
in a pharmacy; Kelly
Pham ’16 works alongside
Bilal Sayyid ’19; Amber
McDevitt ’19 works in
the lab.
Manchester | 15