College of Pharmacy Inducts 19 Students and Faculty Members into Prestigious National Honor Society
| The College of Pharmacy inducted 17 students and two faculty members into The Rho Chi National Honor Society during a virtual ceremony April 9.
Membership into The Rho Chi Society is the highest academic achievement in pharmacy and recognizes students in the top 20% of their entering class, in addition to faculty members selected by the chapter.
“The students have spent countless hours in pursuit of their academic excellence, and the faculty members represent those who’ve had a substantial impact on the students’ achievements,” said department chair and associate professor Amy Franks, Pharm.D., the faculty advisor for the college’s Beta Iota chapter.
The college’s associate dean of academic affairs David Caldwell, Pharm.D., congratulated inductees during his keynote address, but in addition to celebrating their scholastic excellence, he also had one question for students to consider as new members of The Rho Chi Society.
“How do you all want to be remembered,” he asked. “The answer can have drastic implications for our lives, the choices we make and the priorities we set.”
Through humor and transparency, Caldwell shared his own “cautionary tale” with students, but the takeaway, as he described, could set the path for a successful career and enjoyable opportunities to connect with others.
The associate dean, like many students, said he was extremely driven to make an A on every test during pharmacy school. While he admitted the goal was admirable, Caldwell encouraged the inductees to explore who they hope to be as a person, rather than solely focusing on their academic role.
Caldwell began setting different personal goals as a P4 student. Thanks to an unusual assignment from his friend’s professor, he took an unexpected opportunity for self-reflection, which eventually helped shape his values and success as a student and professional, and also as a person.
The professor required students to write their own eulogy, so the two friends wrote one for each other to view themselves through an external lens.
“At that point, probably for the first time, I started to explicitly think about how I actually wanted people to remember me,” said Caldwell. “I really spent time intentionally getting to know the patients I worked with and other members of the health care team, and that’s when I actually started enjoying myself.”
Franks and chapter president Madison Green led the initiation to officially induct the new members and install new officers, and 2020 initiates were also formally recognized.
The new officers and members for the 2021-2022 academic year are:
President: Erica Smith
Vice President: Madeline Malloy
Secretary: Morgan Tracy
Treasurer: Caleb Reinhart
Historian: Hannah Hunt
Service Chair: Emily Sumler
New members (Class of 2023)
Justin Dino
Sarah Dobbs
Hannah Hunt
Madeline Malloy
Brendan Midkiff
Marco Morris
Evan Parks
Caleb Reinhart
Erica Smith
Emily Sumler
Morgan Tracy
Class of 2022
Anna-Marie Deloach
Christopher Godwin
Jessica Hunter
Lauren Johnson
Kristin Price
Lara Rains
Faculty inductees
Brendan Frett, Ph.D.
Christopher Johnson, Pharm.D., M.Ed.