December 4, 2023
With the goal of shifting perspectives and raising self-awareness, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy faculty and staff attended the first of three Ackland Art & Equity events to gain a greater understanding of the power of equity in education and health care.
“The Ackland Art & Equity event was designed with the understanding that all our work is made possible through connection. It highlights individual experiences and how each of our unique perspectives creates something that can’t exist without collaboration,” said Amanda Storyward, director of organizational diversity and inclusion (ODI) at the School.
This event was hosted by the School’s Office of ODI at the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill. It included a reception and discussion facilitated by the Ackland’s Head of University Programs and Academic Projects Elizabeth Manekin. The discussions were centered on art, identity and how you define care.
“What impacted me the most was how each person had an initial thought on what the ambiguous image presented could be, and then through discussion and active listening, thoughts and ideas evolved to identify the object,” said Sarah Pankracij, director of experiential student and career services. “This discussion and sharing of ideas to work towards a common goal reminded me of the importance of teamwork and listening to support our work across the School.”
These events for faculty and staff were inspired by ones that were held for first year pharmacy students earlier this fall thanks to the McKesson Foundation grant that established the McKesson Leading Excellence, Advancing Diversity (LEAD) program. This program aims to build a diverse pharmacy workforce and enable empathetic, high-quality, accessible care for all patients.
“Art & Equity, was designed thoughtfully to build a dialogue, connecting participants in a common goal, and approaching self-awareness and diversity, equity and inclusion from a perspective that is not commonly used in pharmacy education and health care,” said Storyward.
First year students who attended this event through their “Becoming a Pharmacist” course highly rated this initiative and the School hopes to expand this opportunity to all students in the future. In a survey after the course, one student shared, “This activity will change the way I interact with patient charts because I’ll always be looking for the person beyond numbers.”
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