March 2, 2012
On January 6, the faculty of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy unanimously approved a new Strategic Plan to guide the School’s development through 2017.
“This is an extraordinary time in pharmacy education—pharmacy practice is changing, state and federal budgets are shrinking, and there are many new schools of pharmacy,” says Bob Blouin, PharmD, dean of the School and the Vaughn and Nancy Bryson Distinguished Professor. “This is not a simple operational plan; this is a document that articulates our highest aspirations in realizing our shared vision and clearly defines the investments that we must make in molding the School’s future.”
The Strategic Plan opens with the School’s vision, mission, and core values and then outlines seven strategic initiatives, each comprising from two to eight objectives. It is available on the School website. A PDF document is also available for download. The strategic initiatives are
Educational Renaissance
Technology, the pharmacy profession and students are changing, yet classroom instruction has remained the same for decades. By rethinking what we teach and how we teach, we will improve student learning and set our students apart from others.
The Practice of Pharmacy
Our researchers and practitioners to work together and lead large multidisciplinary research projects aimed at improving the quality of care for patients and enhancing collaboration and coordination of care across health-care disciplines and systems.
Research and Training Enterprise
The School’s unprecedented growth in sponsored research, recruitment of top-notch established scientists, success of its junior faculty, and premier research space demand that we build a robust research portfolio to sustain the growth of our research program.
Global Engagement
The American pharmaceutical industry is expanding its global reach. Foreign nations are looking for U.S. leadership in elevating pharmacy education and research. Through strategic partnerships, the School will expand its education mission and research enterprise worldwide.
Institutional Environment and Business Operations
The School’s cluster model incorporates core business services into a centralized team that has the potential to significantly improve services, reduce redundancies and costs, and develop new best practices to maximize available resources.
Our People
The School will continue to create and encourage professional growth opportunities for faculty and staff and create a culture where faculty and staff are recruited into career opportunities, not just jobs.
Strategic Planning, Assessment, and Quality Improvement
The School must better use data to drive planning and quality improvement, and take measurable steps to ensure that processes are in place to manage, analyze, and use data to advance our strategic initiatives, our goals, and student learning.
The strategic planning process was designed with ongoing planning and assessment in mind. The process requires the School to be responsive and adaptable to the internal and external factors that affect it, Blouin says. The School has implemented TaskStream, an accountability management software package, and established the Office of Strategic Planning and Assessment to guide it in documenting and tracking of the plan over the next several years.
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