The first graduating class of Lipscomb’s College of Pharmacy was honored Friday afternoon during a Recognition Ceremony in Collins Alumni Auditorium.
The ceremony included a presentation of awards, presentation of hoods, administration of the Oath of a Pharmacist as well as words of encouragement from Roger Davis, dean of the College of Pharmacy, Craig Bledsoe, provost, and Mike Fowler, vice chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, among others.
Fowler, who was selected by students to deliver the faculty address, began his speech by looking back to Aug. 13, 2008—the beginning of Lipscomb’s pharmacy school.
Fowler showed a few slides from the PowerPoint he used during his first lecture, outlining the expectations he had for his students.
“Today we stand in the same place,” Fowler said. “We have great expectations for you.”
Fowler played a clip from his favorite movie, The Karate Kid, which he played on the first day of class four years ago. He said the segment—well known for its concepts of wax on, wax off—displays “the epitome of teaching and learning.”
“We had some bad times, individually and collectively,” Fowler said, “but there were also many good times—some successes and awards.”
Fowler read a passage from Luke in which Jesus says, “For everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.”
“You have been given much—by your family, your friends, yourselves and each other,” Fowler said, “so I think it’s only fair that we tell you what we expect from you. What we really expect is that you’ll go out and be good pharmacists. We expect you to be good family members. We expect you to be good servants. We expect you to be good leaders. We expect you to continue to learn, and we expect some of you to become teachers. We expect a lot, and we know we won’t be disappointed.”
Davis spoke briefly following a presentation of faculty- and student-nominated awards and industry awards.
“You came as our customer, our student,” Davis said. “You leave as our peer, our colleague, and today we have all arrived here together.
“Thank you for giving us something to look forward to,” he said. “We love you in a way that we will love no other group that comes this way. You were the first. This is your home. This is our home that we have built together, and this is your place of refreshing when you need it.”
After being presented with their hoods, the students received a standing ovation from their family and friends in attendance.
Students receiving awards include: John Michael Deason, Rachel Crouch, Kayleen Daly, Katie Pearsall, Ly Tran, Patrick Nickell, Lauren Van Atta, Li Li, John Jantz, Tabitha Tidwell, Frances Amano, Lincoln Rogers, Will Walker, Savannah Roberts and Beth Kiper.