Call to Order
Chair Brian Crabtree (Mississippi) called the meeting to order at 10:00 am in Chicago Ballroom VI of the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, July 21, 2008. Immediately following the Call to Order, Chair Crabtree introduced the COF Administrative Board: Marie Chisholm-Burns (Secretary; Arizona), Julianna Szilagyi (Chair-elect; Houston), and Kenneth Skau (Immediate Past Chair; Cincinnati).
Preliminary Quorum Committee Report
Quorum committee members, Ginger Scott (West Virginia University), Wanda Maldonado (Puerto Rico), and James Scott (Western), reported that a quorum was represented.
Report of the Chair
Chair Crabtree recognized candidates for President-elect, Rod Carter (Minnesota), and Speaker-elect, Kenneth Skau. He also recognized the Wal-Mart Scholars and the Fellows from the Academic Leadership Fellowship Program. Chair Crabtree welcomed members and thanked those present who are serving on committees on behalf of the COF. He also recognized the efforts and contributions of Cecilia Plaza as the COF-AACP staff liaison. He briefly reviewed the role of the Council of Faculties within the AACP governance structure and described the committees and task forces during the 2007-2008 year. He reported that over 75 members were engaged in the work of the Council during this year.
Report of the Secretary
Marie Chisholm-Burns reported that the minutes of the 2008 COF Business Meeting held February 4, 2008 in Arlington, Virginia, were distributed to all members electronically and are available via download from the AACP website. The minutes were received and approved.
Remarks of the Chair-Elect
Chair-Elect Szilagyi reported on COF initiatives and continuing activities. She reported that: (1) the Nominating Committee (Chair, Brian Crabtree) prepares a slate of candidates for each office; (2) the Standing Rules and Regulations Committee (chair, Todd Brown) keeps the standing rules up-to-date and suggested necessary changes to stimulate and review resolutions; (3) the Faculty Affairs Committee (chair, Ginger Scott) will continue to address faculty issues and concerns; and (4) the Quorum Committee (chair, TBA) will continue to take roll of members in attendance at the Annual and Interim Meetings. The Pharmaceutical Science and Research Education Task Force (co-chairs, Stephen Cutler [Mississippi] and Sandy Zito [St. John's]) has identified issues and will refine recommendations regarding the role of the pharmaceutical sciences in pharmacy education. Regarding the joint COD/COF Task Forces: (1) the Task Force on Faculty Workforce (chair, TBA) is working for the enhancement of recruitment and retention of faculty, including developing partnerships among schools for graduate education; (2) the IPPE Task Force (chair, TBA) is a new Task Force to identify outcomes for IPPE; and (3) the Faculty Affairs Committee (chair, TBA) is working to identify and prioritize issues of mutual interest. A new initiative is the Task Force for Recognition of Teaching Excellence (chair, TBA) which will identify best practices for assessing teaching excellence, and means to reward and acknowledge excellence in teaching. This Task Force will also identify methods for faculty development and encouragement of the Scholarship of Assessment, Learning and Teaching (SALT), and share findings and recommendations via a White Paper or manuscript. Chair-Elect Szilagyi will be looking for volunteers for the committees and task forces, and expressed that she is looking forward to working with the COF.
Report on the Board of Director's (BOD) Activities from the COF Immediate Past Chair
Kenneth Skau presented highlights of the Board of Directors (BOD) meeting. The BOD meets four times per year, and this year has been busy. Issues discussed included:
IRAC-PEAS: There is an increased availability of surveys and tools to improve your school/college's curriculum and development of accreditation documents. There is now a user's guide that has been sent to all schools/colleges and posted on the web. Please note that increased use of these tools will result in better ability to analyze the validity of these surveys.
The AACP website is in the process of being reorganized. We anticipate that it will be rolled out in mid-fall. This should be a much more user-friendly site. Included on the site will be a section of assessment tools and resources that will be interactive. Schools/ colleges are encouraged to share assessment tools with the rest of the academy, and this should be a faculty-driven process.
The BOD approved “in concept” to build an electronic assessment support system, with hopes of interacting with ACPE. This would allow an ongoing development of the self-study and perhaps reduce the last minute workload to construct the self-study document. It is expected that submission of accreditation documentation will be totally electronic in the future.
AACP will be developing a set of national competency statements for experiential education. A preceptor module is now available through Education Scholar.
The BOD has approved a pilot program to initiate criminal background checks for students through the PharmCAS system. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed including cost. The pilot program will involve 10 schools.
The BOD discussed industry-funded gifts, meals, and programs. There was no resolution proposed but it is expected that this will be an important ongoing discussion.
The BOD discussed “open membership” and decided “in concept” to move toward “open membership” that eliminates individual membership dues. This concept will be addressed by the House, and all were encouraged to express their views to their delegates.
There is a continued discussion of residencies and the Commission on Credentialing with ASHP. The BOD anticipates a decision on this in October.
The report on the Board of Directors was accepted.
Report of the Chair of the Academic Sections Coordinating Committee (ASCC)
Chair David Zgarrick (Drake) reported that the ASCC serves as a forum for communications and collaborations between the eight discipline-specific academic sections. He also reported the functions of the ASCC which include: (a) organizing the Teacher's Seminar; (b) managing the poster abstract review process (443 were submitted and 381 were accepted for the 2008 Annual Meeting); (c) managing the NIP review process, with approximately 70 proposals submitted; and (d) developing and coordinating portions of the Annual Meeting programming. Zgarrick reported on the transition to the Council of Sections (COS) and pending approval of the bylaws, the 2008-2009 COS Leadership will be Michelle Kalis (Massachusetts-Boston) as Chair-elect, Sudip Das (Butler) as Chair; and David Zgarrick (Drake) as Immediate Past Chair. A secretary will be elected this Fall for a 2-year term and those interested should contact Zgarrick.
The report on the COS was accepted.
Report from the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE)
Gayle Brazeau (Buffalo) reported that the AJPE impact factor has increased after 2 years of PubMed inclusion. The number of manuscript submissions has also increased. Claire Anderson was introduced as AJPE's International Associate Editor. AJPE is in need of reviewers. Everyone was encouraged to stop by the AJPE booth. Brazeau thanked all for supporting AJPE.
Committee Updates
Final Quorum Committee – Wanda Maldonado, Ginger Scott, and James Scott reported that 149 registered individuals representing 66 schools had signed in.
COF/COD Task Force on Faculty Workforce – Raylene Rospond (Drake) reported that the charges of the Task Force were: (1) develop models of compensation packages (salary, benefits, practice plans, research plans, and consultation revenue) to be utilized by schools/colleges of pharmacy to enhance recruitment and retention of faculty members; (2) develop models of alternative faculty appointments to be utilized by schools/colleges of pharmacy to enhance recruitment and retention of faculty members; and (3) complete a roles analysis of schools/colleges of pharmacy with and without graduate programs and how partnerships can be developed among these institutions. For Charge 1, they are looking at incentive plans, consulting, and intellectual property revenue. For Charge 2, the Task Force is studying models of alternative faculty appointments. For Charge 3, a 2006-2007 survey was completed and data are now available. Recommendations included: (1) developing and implementing a graduate awareness program initiative for Pharm.D. and/or graduate students; (2) creating a program outlining the benefits of an academic career; and (3) creating alternative funding structures such as loan forgiveness programs to encourage financial viability of attending graduate school.
Nominating Committee – Kenneth Skau reported that the following individuals are the nominees for the 3-year position of Chair-Elect, Chair, Immediate Past Chair beginning at the end of the 2009 AACP Annual Meeting: John Bosso, Pharm.D. (South Carolina College of Pharmacy), and Robert Thomas, Pharm.D. (Florida A&M University). Skau also reported that the following individuals are the nominees for the 3-year position of Secretary beginning at the end of the 2009 AACP Annual Meeting: Dana Hammer, Ph.D. (University of Washington), and Steven Scott, Pharm.D. (Purdue University). All nominations were closed and accepted.
Resolutions and Standing Rules Committee – Todd Brown (Northeastern) reported that the Committee has recommended several action steps to stimulate resolutions to be considered by the COF at the Annual Meeting: (1) the Committee should send an email message to all COF members requesting resolutions and use the message board on the AACP website; and (2) the Committee should send an email to faculty delegates asking them to stimulate resolutions from their institutions each October and February. A resolution passed at the Interim Meeting regarding suspending the time requirement for IPPE was discussed. A letter was sent to ACPE from AACP. At this time no further action is recommended. Changes in the Standing Rules of the COF were made to reflect actions taken previously by the House of Delegates. These include elimination of references to the Academic Sections Coordinating Committee since ASCC will become the Council of Sections. The document was also modified to make it gender neutral. Since these changes are superseded by the Bylaws of AACP following previous HOD actions, approval by the COF is not required.
Faculty Affairs Committee – Michael Borenstein (Temple) reported that the committee conducted an environmental scan and identified emerging issues with the greatest potential impact over the next 5-10 years from the perspective of pharmacy faculty members and deans. Three issues identified and agreed upon by a parallel emerging issues committee from the Council of deans as most likely to impact schools/colleges over the next 5 years were: faculty salaries, availability of experiential sites, and impact of accreditation standards. Also identified as issues likely to have a major impact: new programs and faculty shortage. The following were identified as emerging issues likely to impact schools/colleges: public and private research funding, importance of development, assessment activities, and faculty development. Faculty members ranked assessment activities, gap between education and practice, and credentials for pharmacy practice faculty as highly important issues. Other issues suggested as important emerging issues were: dwindling student financial aid, interprofessional education and practice, and lack of competitive clinical scientists and faculty prepared to conduct NIH-level translational research. The committee encourages AACP to support a forum in which schools/colleges can collaborate on developing mutually beneficial strategic directions to deal with these issues.
Task Force on Interprofessional Education (IPE) – Shauna Buring (Cincinnati) reported that the first two charges to the Task Force, defining/developing vertically integrated interprofessional curricula and identifying common curricular themes that can be used in curricula, are completed and presented in the 2006-07 AACP Task Force on IPE's Final Report. Regarding the remaining charges: (1) IPE faculty development resources have been collated and included in the White Paper on IPE, and a bibliography of “best practice” IPE resources has been developed and will be added to this collection; (2) IPE has been included in the ACPE standards, and it is recognized that other health professions may not fully engage in IPE until it is part of their accreditation standards; (3) the majority of information needed to implement IPE is in the 2006-07 Final Report, and the 2007-08 Task Force is working on faculty development (the final piece needed for implementation). The next step is IPE curriculum development (beyond the scope of the Task Force); and (4) a White Paper on IPE is being developed and submission to AJPE is expected. A special session on IPE is being held at the 2008 Annual Meeting.
Task Force on Healthy Students Program – Carrie Maffeo (Butler) reported the AACP Curriculum Special Interest Group received responses to their January 2008 call for successful practices from 7 schools/colleges. Based on the responses, a toolkit was compiled for teaching, learning, and assessment in public health, disease prevention, and health promotion. Based on a recommendation from the Task Force, the AACP Program Committee has selected public health, wellness, and prevention as the school poster theme for the 2008 Annual Meeting. The Task Force is presenting a special session, Providing Public Health Education on Campus: Opportunities for Pharmacy, at the 2008 Annual Meeting.
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Task Force on National Medication Safety Goals – Shelley Chambers-Fox (Washington State) reported that the Task Force has focused on three areas:
Scholarship of medication safety: A supplemental issue of AJPE will include articles on the theoretical and practical aspects of medication safety. Publication is slated for June 2009.
Curricular content in medication safety: Task Force members (sub-committee) working in this area have focused on the goals of assisting in the development of a nationwide safety curriculum for student pharmacists (the sub-committee will act as an advisory panel), developing strategies for meeting student educational needs regarding medication safety, and assessing the effectiveness of approaches to increase student competence and change pharmacy practice inquiry to improve medication safety. The Pharmacy Quality Alliance has awarded a curriculum development grant to a research team including Task Force member Terri Warholak (Arizona).
Medication safety awareness: The Task Force's objective is to develop a plan for promoting awareness to key stakeholders. Several resources and collaborators have been identified.
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Task Force on Pharmaceutical Science and Research Education – Stephen Cutler reported that the Task Force's six charges were addressed as follows:
Charge 1, Assess degree to which basic pharmaceutical science education in professional program has been compromised/diluted: A survey conducted by the Task Force found that 54% of department chairs believe that pharmaceutical sciences courses have been compromised. There is also less emphasis on offering basic science courses. This could impact scientific background of students graduating with pharmacy degrees. A decreased appreciation of pharmaceutical science topics among students was also noted. Based on these results, the Task Force strongly supports maintaining an appropriate number of basic science courses, with no reductions from current levels. Basic sciences should be taught by suitably educated Ph.D. faculty. The Task Force recommends that ACPE standards Appendix B should be used to develop quantitative requirements for all of the pharmaceutical sciences. Schools are encouraged to develop a knowledge-based examination that all students must pass in order to progress from year to year or progress from the didactic part of the curriculum to the experiential part. An alternate course of action would be to have a minimum GPA that students must achieve in the didactic part before progressing to the experiential part.
Charges 2 and 3, Make specific recommendations regarding the balance of basic pharmaceutical science knowledge acquisition, development of scientific reasoning, the balance of clinical science instruction, and clinical reasoning: The Task Force recommends that each school independently (or in conjunction with AACP) assess students' knowledge acquisition and critical thinking abilities to determine if students' knowledge acquisition and scientific/clinical reasoning skills are adequate. If problems are identified, then the balance of knowledge acquisition and opportunities to enhance scientific/clinical reasoning skills should be addressed within the individual curriculum based on the school's resources. The Task Force also recommends that curricula be modified to incorporate active learning strategies designed to enhance scientific and clinical reasoning skills as well as knowledge acquisition, synthesis, and retention.
Charge 4, Propose an early curriculum solution beyond didactic instruction to ensure students understand principles of research inquiry: The Task Force recommends making the following opportunities available to students: (1) exposure to the research of faculty members through Research Awareness Programs, seminars, or participation in a specific mentored research project; (2) a research elective; (3) research seminars presented by distinguished visiting faculty; (4) participation and recognition at college Research Days; (5) structured summer research programs; (6) collaboration with student organizations and graduate students; and (7) early exposure to dual degree programs (e.g., Pharm.D./Ph.D.).
Charge 5, Make recommendations regarding how early emphasis in professional degree program may stimulate interest in dual degree tracks to develop clinical scientists: The Task Force recommends that schools/colleges explore elective course to introduce students to research in pharmaceutical and clinical sciences, and explore ways to encourage students to participate in elective research courses/experiences. The Task Force also recommends that schools/colleges explore incentives to encourage faculty to participate as mentors in research-oriented electives. Deans of schools/colleges should explore ways to fund students in summer research projects, or provide travel grants for students to attend a regional or national research meeting.
Charge 6, Disseminate findings and recommendations: A White Paper of all findings (refer to previous 5 charges) will be prepared and published.
All committee reports were accepted.
Old Business
A legislature update was given by Will Lang. He discussed activities concerning the appropriations process which has come to a halt. There might be an additional $5.2 billion in the NIH budget, but a time frame for when (and if) this will come to fruition is not known. There is one piece of legislation of interest to academic pharmacy, IDEA (Independent Drug Education Act), to provide grant funding to academic institutions to develop communication to improve prescribing behaviors. AACP is in active discussion with the FDA to develop a stronger relationship. Ken Miller and Lang will visit the CDC to have a similar discussion – to develop a stronger relationship with the CDC to engage in stronger working relations.
Doneka Scott (Minnesota) reported on the Academic Leadership Fellows Program and encouraged all interested in the program to apply for acceptance.
Elizabeth Cardello (APhA) reported on the APhA Career Pathways Program. She encourages all schools to use the program. A survey will be sent to those using the program at their school/college of pharmacy to identify best practices.
Chair Crabtree reported that the Dean's Compass has been completed and available at this meeting.
New Business
Cecilia Plaza announced that AACP and the Career Information Clearinghouse, a collaboration of pharmacy organizations committed to promoting pharmacy and pharmaceutical research, is pleased to announce a new competition for pharmacy schools. The “Is Pharmacy for You?” video competition gives your faculty and students the opportunity to produce a video answering the question “Is pharmacy for you?” The 3 minute recruitment video selected will be posted on the AACP website and YouTube, and will be used to attract interested students to the profession of pharmacy. More information concerning this will be available on the AACP website in September.
Immediate Past Chair Skau installed the 2008-09 Officers: Julianna Szilagyi (Chair); Gary Matzke (Chair-Elect, Virginia Commonwealth); Brian Crabtree (Immediate Past Chair); Marie Chisholm-Burns (Secretary).
Chair Szilagyi expressed gratitude for all the work that Brian Crabtree has done for the COF.
Open Forum
None.
Adjournment
Chair Szilagyi adjourned the meeting at 11:59 am.
Respectfully submitted,
Marie Chisholm-Burns, COF Secretary