PHARMSC Fall 2008
The Newsletter for College of Pharmacy Alumni
SCCP Announces Plan for Landmark Building on MUSC Campus The new pharmacy building in Charleston will create a learning and research environment on par with the best pharmacy schools in the country, complementing the programmatic, faculty-driven excellence that has long been the hallmark of the pharmacy educational experience. When Wayne Weart was a fresh-faced resident newly arrived at the College of Pharmacy at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), he could see that the equipment and facilities needed to be upgraded. At that point, MUSC’s pharmacy school had not undergone a major renovation in nearly 20 years. Thirty-seven years later, it still hasn’t. But that will soon change. “Our current facilities have remained essentially unchanged since I first came here for my residency in 1971,” Weart said. “They’re undersized and outdated. This new building and its state-of-theart technologies will greatly enhance our learning environment, strengthen our research programs, and generally serve as a huge morale booster for the entire College of Pharmacy.” In 2004, the MUSC College of Pharmacy and the College of Pharmacy at the University of South Carolina (USC) merged to form the South Carolina College of Pharmacy. By combining the strengths of the two colleges, and the affiliated assets of their universities, the South Carolina College of Pharmacy has many of the resources necessary to stake a claim as one of the best pharmacy schools in the country. The MUSC Board of Trustees has approved a plan for a new flagship building on its MUSC
campus. The proposed facility is a six-story, 83,000-square-foot building with state-of-the-art learning and research spaces. Funds for the $30 million building will come from a combination of alumni, friends, and private foundations. Due to escalating building costs, additional funds must be obtained from other sources. “We’re counting on our pharmacy alumni and friends to step up and take a real leadership role in raising the resources for this magnificent building,” said Arnold Karig, MUSC campus dean of the South Carolina College of Pharmacy. “As former students, alumni are acutely aware of the limitations of our existing physical space, as well as the excellence of our faculty and academic program. I am confident alumni will embrace this project not only willingly, but eagerly.” The building, as well as endowed chairs and professorships ($4 million) and endowed scholarships ($2 million), is a central part of the recently launched MUSC-wide capital campaign, “A Partnership of Promise.” The $300-million MUSC campaign already has raised more than $200 million and is scheduled to end by 2011. Key features of the new building include: • more than 13,000 square feet of space dedicated to student instruction
• two lecture halls designed to accommodate a full cohort of 95 students each, fully equipped with ceiling projectors, teaching consoles, and microphones and cameras for distancelearning purposes • reconfigurable classrooms equipped with flexible table and chair arrangements, wireless access, and distance-learning capabilities • seminar rooms designed to facilitate instruction for small groups (12 to 18) • student practice laboratories, student commons and lounge area, and a student activity center • up to 15 “wet bench” and “dry bench” research labs.