School of Pharmacy Dean Louis Diamond to step down
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| Louis Diamond, PhD |
Diamond has guided the school through a move from Boulder and the initial stages of transition to the new Fitzsimons campus, which should be completed in 2008. The School of Pharmacy moved from Boulder into a new building in Denver in 1992.
“ Dean Diamond’s leadership efforts on behalf of the School of Pharmacy have led to a series of successful initiatives and transformations over the years,” Stiegmann said. “We appreciate his continued dedication to the school and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Approval of the PharmD degree program allowed the school to meet national accreditation standards and enabled it to train pharmacists to assume direct responsibility for the supervision and management of drug therapy in a wide variety of patient care settings.
The program was approved by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education in 1993 and was implemented as an optional, five-year, post-baccalaureate program. Subsequently, with CCHE approval and full funding from the Colorado General Assembly, the program was transformed into a six-year, entry-level degree program and a new, nationally acclaimed and highly innovative curriculum was implemented in 1999.
The new program, which did not graduate its first students until 2003, ranked 23rd in the nation in the 2005 edition of the U.S. News & World Report guidebook to graduate schools. The school currently selects 135 students annually from an applicant pool of approximately 1,600.
The School of Pharmacy consistently ranks among the top 10 pharmacy schools in the nation in terms of National Institutes of Health grant funding and has received local and national recognition for its commitment to diversity.
“ I remain committed to serving as a strong and consistent advocate for the School of Pharmacy for the duration of my deanship,” Diamond said. At a recent meeting of the school’s faculty and staff, Diamond outlined a number of important strategic initiatives he plans to pursue during the next several months.
