First Pharmacy Class Receives Top Exam Scores

The inaugural graduating class of the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences recorded top scores in the 2006 national and state pharmacy licensure exams.

The 24 members of the charter class, who entered the Skaggs School in 2002, were the first to complete the four-year program and gain their doctorates in pharmacy. Their average score was well above both the California state and national average for the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination, according to school officials.

Developed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, the examination is part of the boards’ assessment of competence to practice pharmacy.

“Successes of this nature clearly demonstrate that the University of California made a great investment in these students and in starting a professional pharmacy program at UCSD,” said Palmer Taylor, founding dean of the Skaggs School and associate vice chancellor of health sciences at UCSD, in a press release. “Continuation of this support will pay dividends in health care and pharmaceutical research across the state of California for years to come.”

NAPLEX measures three aspects of pharmaceutical competence: safe and effective pharmacotherapy and optimizing therapeutic outcomes, safe and accurate preparation and dispensing of medications, and providing health care information and promoting public health.

Student Runner-Up in NY Times Mag Essay Contest

Travis Weinger, a Revelle College senior majoring in history with a minor in political science, was one of four runners-up in New York Times Magazine essay contest.

His essay “Why College Matters” was submitted in response to the magazine’s online essay published in July titled “What’s the Matter with College?” by historian Rick Perlstein. College students across the nation were encouraged to offer their opinions on the Perlstein essay and explain the impact of higher education.

Weinger is a founder of the Triton, a UCSD newspaper, and of the Symposium, an on-campus discussion group.

According to the New York Times Web site, about 600 undergraduates replied with mixed reactions.

Many agreed with Perlstein’s contention that “college as America used to understand it is coming to an end” while others dismissed the argument or critiqued higher education from an insider’s point of view.

The winning essay, “The Posteverything Generation” by Nicholas Handler, a junior at Yale University, was published in New York Times Magazine and online on NYTimes.com and mtvU.com. Semifinalists had their essays published on NYTimes.com.