Beginning today, the University of Hawaii at Hilo will host a series of forums to introduce each of the five candidates in the running to become the next dean of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy.
Beginning today, the University of Hawaii at Hilo will host a series of forums to introduce each of the five candidates in the running to become the next dean of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy.
The forums will run through Feb. 24, after which UH-Hilo Chancellor Donald Straney will choose one finalist to recommend to UH President David Lassner and the Board of Regents, who will make the final approval.
Founding Dean John Pezzuto left the school in July for a job as professor and dean at the Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Pezzuto initially announced his resignation in June 2014, with the intention of leaving the college at the end of the calendar year, but ended up staying on for the remainder of the academic year “to ensure continuity of the program,” according to Straney.
A search committee, led by College of Pharmacy professor and chairwoman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences Susan Jarvi, was charged last year with selecting candidates for the position and narrowing that field to finalists who displayed “a track record of success as an administrator, educator, researcher, fundraiser and leader,” Straney said.
The committee narrowed its search to the five finalists in November, Jarvi said.
“We are trying to move this search along as efficiently as possible,” she said. “All candidates will be completing on-site visits by the end of February 2016.”
All forums will take place in the College of Pharmacy’s modular classrooms. The candidates and their corresponding forum times include:
• Xiang-Qun Xie, a professor and associate dean for research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy; noon today for faculty, staff and the community, and 1 p.m. for students.
• David J. Riese, a professor and associate dean for research and graduate programs at the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy; noon Wednesday, Jan. 27, for faculty, staff and the community, and 1 p.m. for students.
• Bingfang Yan, professor and chairman of the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Rhode Island; 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, for faculty, staff and the community, and noon for students.
• L. Douglas Ried, a professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Texas at Tyler; 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, for faculty, staff and the community, and noon for students.
• Kevin G. Rice, a professor of medicinal and natural products chemistry and professor of pharmacy at the University of Iowa; 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, for faculty, staff and the community, and noon for students.
More information about the candidates and search can be found at pharmacy.uhh.hawaii.edu/HR/deansearch.php.
The search committee asked the candidates to “share with us their vision of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy and where they would expect us to be in 10 years,” Jarvi said.
At the forums, attendees will be provided with index cards to submit questions to the candidates.
“This is a very exciting time in the continued development of” the school, Jarvi added.
Carolyn Ma, associate professor and chairwoman of pharmacy practice, is serving as interim dean of the pharmacy school, having been named by Straney to that position in August.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.