2 universities team on pharmacist fast-track program

NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Indiana University Southeast has partnered with Sullivan University College of Pharmacy in Louisville, Ky. on a program that makes it possible for students to become a licensed pharmacist in five years after graduating from high school. 

 

The year-round accelerated program lets students study on a pre-pharmacy track at IU Southeast and then enter Sullivan University’s Pharm. D program and apply credits earned there toward a Bachelor of Science degree at IU Southeast.

 

In order for students to be considered for the program, they must be accepted to US Southeast and be in a track for either a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry-biochemistry or a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. Professors involved in the partnership tout pharmacy as a field that needs more qualified graduates and one in which students will be able to have an impact on patients’ lives through the expanding roster of clinical services pharmacists can offer. 

 

“This accelerated year-round program offers the fastest path to a career,” said Stacy Rowe, associate professor and director of student affairs at Sullivan University College of Pharmacy. Rowe worked with IU Southeast biology professor Michele Zimmerman to create a memorandum of understanding between the two universities. Administrators see the partnership as a way to get more students into a field where they are needed with degrees that will serve them well. 

 

“We are responding to the region’s call for more graduates in this field,” IU Southeast chancellor Ray Wallace said. “It is especially important for students to realize that they will finish with two very marketable degrees after five short years of study both here at IU Southeast and at Sullivan University.”