Newsline: Manchester College receives $35 million Lilly grant for School of Pharmacy

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl
Brumbaugh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

Manchester College receives $35 million Lilly grant for School of 
Pharmacy

(Jan. 13, 2011) Elgin, IL -- Manchester College has received a $35 
million grant from Lilly Endowment to launch a School of Pharmacy. 
The grant--the largest in Manchester College history--will help the 
college develop its first doctoral program on a Fort Wayne, Ind., 
campus, surrounded by regional hospitals, pharmacies, and health care 
facilities and services.

Manchester College is a Church of the Brethren-related school located 
in North Manchester, Ind.

Responding to the national shortage of pharmacists and openings in 
pharmacy schools, Manchester announced last fall its plans to seek 
accreditation for a doctoral program in pharmacy, with the first 
classes beginning in fall 2012. When accredited, the School of 
Pharmacy will enroll 265 students in an intensive four-year Doctor of 
Pharmacy program.

Speaking on behalf of Lilly Endowment, Sara B. Cobb, vice president 
of education, said, "The school will further important efforts in 
Indiana to increase opportunities for education and careers in the 
STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines. The 
endowment believes this support should add significantly to the 
intellectual capital in northeast Indiana and enhance the vibrant 
life sciences sector growing throughout the state."

"Lilly Endowment is making a powerful impact on the college's ability 
to focus on the most important work before us: building a 
distinctive, academically strong, mission-centered School of 
Pharmacy," said Manchester president Jo Young Switzer. "This grant 
enhances our tools to attract exceptional faculty in a highly 
competitive market."

Recruiting and hiring are under way for faculty in pharmacy practice, 
pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacy 
administration, and biomedical science, said Philip J. Medon, vice 
president and founding dean of the School of Pharmacy. "Pharmacists 
practicing in patient-care environments will comprise the majority of 
the faculty. Pharmacy students will work side-by-side with 
pharmacists and other members of the health care team in medical care 
facilities and pharmacies in the community." 

>For more visit www.manchester.edu/pharmacy.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to 
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out 
its faith in community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist 
and Pietist faith traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace 
Churches. It celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 
123,000 members across the United States and Puerto Rico, and has 
missions and sister churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican 
Republic, Haiti, and India.

(This release was provided by Jeri S. Kornegay, director of media and 
public relations for Manchester College.)

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org