As the beginning to a new academic year approaches, administrators at the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy are once again ramping up efforts to garner legislative support for a permanent building to house the
As the beginning to a new academic year approaches, administrators at the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy are once again ramping up efforts to garner legislative support for a permanent building to house the program.
In September, the UH Board of Regents will compile its list of priorities for capital improvement projects, and the $38 million pharmacy building must remain No. 1 on that list, said Dean John Pezzuto in a Wednesday afternoon interview.
Many in the university and in the community were shocked in the spring when the legislative session ended and legislators failed to include the pharmacy program in its appropriations list for capital improvement projects. Administrators have said that maintaining the school’s accreditation will hinge on its ability to provide a permanent facility for students, faculty and staff to work together under one roof.
This summer, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education extended Hilo’s accreditation, but not without issuing a warning that the school would have to show a new permanent facility was forthcoming or risk being found in violation of national standards, thereby beginning the process of stripping the school of its accreditation.
“To show the legislature we have support, a permanent building for the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy needs to be No. 1 on (the Board of Regents priority list),” Pezzuto said. “The permanent building is essential to secure accreditation and our future.
“I have no doubt we can do this if we work together, because that is how we got our start,” he added.
In the pharmacy college’s monthly email newsletter, public information officer Maggie Morris asked readers to send letters of support to UH-Hilo Chancellor Donald Straney and UH System Interim President David Lassner.
The campaign appears to be working. Wednesday, the school issued an addendum, saying that response had been overwhelming, and asked that future correspondence be limited to University Relations Director Jerry Chang at jerry7@hawaii.edu.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, faculty, students and researchers continued their work at the Waiakea Research Station near the Panaewa Zoo — one of the college’s multiple temporary facilities spread around Hilo.
An aging collection of cramped trailers, sheds and rudimentary buildings with few amenities, the research facility nonetheless houses millions of dollars worth of sophisticated scientific equipment.
Wright and his colleagues explained that, in addition to just having the room needed to carry out their work, even more pressing is the need for a central location where faculty and students can coordinate research projects, share information, and provide cross-specialty inspiration to each other.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
