President Victor A. Yanchick welcomed the Board and staff members present at the Crystal Gateway Marriott at 2:00 p.m. on February 20. The following board members participated in the discussion: Jeffrey N. Baldwin (President-elect), J. Christopher Bradberry (Council of Deans), Rodney A. Carter (Speaker), Brian L. Crabtree (Council of Faculties), Sudip K. Das (Council of Sections), Barbara E. Hayes (Council of Deans), Keith N. Herist (Treasurer), Michelle M. Kalis (Council of Sections), Patricia D. Kroboth (Council of Deans), Lucinda L. Maine (Executive Vice President), Gary R. Matzke (Council of Faculties), Julie E. Szilagyi (Council of Faculties), and David P. Zgarrick (Council of Sections). AFPE President Robert Bachman (February 20) and AJPE Editor Joseph DiPiro (February 21) and John Pieper, Speaker-elect (February 20-21) participated as guests.
AACP staff included: Jennifer L. Athay, Daniel J. Cassidy, Melinda D. Colón, Barbra A. Gustis, Arlene A. Flynn, Will G. Lang, Allan L. Lee, Kenneth W. Miller, Rebecca M. Morgan, Jennifer M. Patton, Cecilia M. Plaza and Sibu Ramamurthy.
President Yanchick administered the oath of office to Chris Bradberry who assumed the position of Council of Deans Chair-elect with concurrent service on the AACP Board of Directors.
2. Proposals for Additions to the AgendaIn response to President Yanchick's call for additions to the agenda EVP Maine indicated that the School of Pharmacy at the College of Notre Dame in Maryland had requested institutional membership in AACP. As the School had achieved pre-candidate accreditation status at the January 2009 meeting of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, on MOTION (Hayes, Matzke) the Board approved the request for Associate Institutional Membership with the following resolution:
Resolution – College of Notre Dame School of Pharmacy
WHEREAS, the Bylaws of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Inc. provide for various levels of institutional membership for colleges and schools of pharmacy;
WHEREAS, the College of Notre Dame School of Pharmacy has been recognized by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education; and
WHEREAS, the College of Notre Dame School of Pharmacy has requested institutional membership in AACP;
RESOLVED that the College of Notre Dame School of Pharmacy be received into the appropriate level of institutional membership in AACP.
President Yanchick read the Board's conflict of interest statement and called upon members to identify potential conflicts. Sudip Das identified a conflict related to selection of the Volwiler Research Achievement Award. David Zgarrick identified a conflict with Item #13 (Journal Update) related to his editorial role in a related publication. Both individuals recused themselves from the relevant discussions.
4. Approval of minutes October 8-9, 2008, Board of Directors meetingOn MOTION (Crabtree, Das) the Board approved the October 2008 minutes.
5. Pharmacy Education Assessment Services (PEAS) UpdateJennifer M. Patton, Director of Institutional Research and Data Systems, reviewed progress related to the development of the Pharmacy Education Assessment Services (PEAS) portfolio of programs supporting schools' efforts in the areas of assessment and accreditation. With the launch of the new AACP Web site, several components of PEAS become active, including the assessment tool sharing feature and the discussion board for members interested in assessment activities. Jennifer reviewed the discussions from the January 26th Advisory Committee meeting which met to provide input and guidance for development of the online self-study and assessment system AACP is developing jointly with ACPE. Staff have been working together to refine the description of system components and identify data needs, sources and templates for reporting. Members of the advisory committee are David Allen, Martin Brown, Robert Bruggemeier, Greg Leader, Susan Miller, Victoria Roche, Magaly Rodriquez DeBittner, and Raylene Rospond. Staff participants included Lucinda Maine (AACP), Jennifer Patton (AACP), Cecilia Plaza (AACP), Michael Rouse (ACPE) and Peter Vlasses (ACPE). Final vendor selection will occur in the second quarter of 2009.
6. Faculty Recruitment and Retention – Board-initiated Communications PlanRebecca M. Morgan, Director of Communications, reviewed the status of several phases of the board-initiated communications plan addressing faculty shortage issues. Phase I included development and distribution of a brochure highlighting available AACP resources for new and continuing faculty and promotion of Education Scholar, particularly the newly released module for practitioner educators. Phase II of the project began in October with exhibits at several regional and national association meetings, including the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting and the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Students of Pharmacy Midyear Regional meeting in Idaho. The final exhibit for 2008-09 is at the APhA meeting in San Antonio in April.
Plans for the third phase of the project include initiation of American Pharmacy Educators Week in October 2009. The AACP Communications team will provide a toolkit of resources for member institutions to use locally to highlight to students and the public the outstanding work of faculty and great career opportunities in academic pharmacy. Rebecca indicated that AACP will issue a call to schools to identify the outstanding discoveries made by pharmacy faculty as part of efforts to communicate that faculty discover, learn and care in innovative and exciting ways.
7. Global Pharmacy EducationPresident Yanchick and EVP Maine led a discussion on activities related to Issue X for 2008-09 – Global Pharmacy Education. Consultant Rosalie Sagraves represented AACP and presented on AACP global pharmacy education activities at the 2008 Pan American Congress on Pharmaceutical Education held in Uruguay in November. She has also extended invitations to co-found a Global Alliance for Pharmaceutical Education to organizations analogous to AACP. EVP Maine noted that Professor Ian Bates would attend a portion of the Interim Meeting to hold conversations with EVP Maine and Rosalie Sagraves. Professor Bates directs the work of the International Pharmacy Federation (FIP) task force on pharmaceutical education and the collaboration with the World Health Organization and UNESCO.
The Board discussed organizational membership in FIP and determined by CONSENSUS to wait for additional information on a new category of institutional membership currently under consideration by the FIP Executive Committee before making the determination to rejoin the organization.
8. Financial UpdateTreasurer Keith N. Herist and Dan J. Cassidy, Chief Operating Officer, led discussions regarding Association financial matters, including the final audit report for Fiscal Year 2008. On MOTION (Bradberry, Kroboth) the Board accepted the FY 2008 Audit Report.
COO Cassidy reviewed the final sale of the former headquarters property as well as the work of the Investment Committee to finalize the investment policy and guide the investment of proceeds from the sale. The Investment Committee also selected a new investment management firm (BB&T) for all AACP investments. By CONSENSUS the Board approved a period of 90 to 180 days to complete the reinvestment of the funds now in BB&T's control recognizing that substantial shifts were occurring in the investment markets.
On MOTION (Kroboth, Bradberry) the Board approved amendments to the AACP Investment Policy incorporating recommendations made by our investment advisor and committee to keep the asset allocation at 65/35 equities to bonds.
On MOTION (Kalis, Das) the Board approved a Vendor Selection Policy for AACP with a $5,000 threshold for identifying purchases and other contracts requiring a competitive solicitation of bids or proposals.
The Board requested an evaluation of new and/or expanded sources of revenue for FY 2010 and beyond. Six month financial results for FY 2009 were presented by COO Cassidy who noted that all revenue lines were performing well with the exception of interest income and investments. Expenses are similarly performing according to the budget. On MOTION (Crabtree, Das) the Board approved the financial report.
9. Curricular Change SummitPresident Yanchick and Cecilia Plaza, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, reviewed plans to host a Curricular Change Summit in Scottsdale, AZ on September 9 to 12, 2009. Five white papers are currently being written and the summary findings/recommendations in these papers will help frame the programming for the meeting which is expected to be somewhat of a hybrid between the traditional AACP Institute and summits like the Academic Practice Partnership Initiative meeting. It was noted that there might be some stakeholders outside of pharmacy education who would contribute to the meetings such as state association leaders, international guests and representatives of other health professions.
10. Outreach VisitationEVP Maine reviewed the continuing effort to visit member schools by board members and staff. There will be 18-20 visits during academic year 2008-09, including three in early March to University of Colorado, Oregon State University and Loma Linda University. The Board requested that a packet of outreach materials be developed for the March retreat to help familiarize those that have not made visits with template visit schedules and presentation materials.
11. Selection of Chalmers, Dawson, Lyman and Volwiler Award RecipientsOn MOTION (Bradberry, Das) the Board affirmed the selection of Bruce Berger (Auburn) as the recipient of the 2009 Robert K. Chalmers Distinguished Pharmacy Educator Award.
On MOTION (Das, Carter) the Board affirmed the selection of Rodney Ho (Washington) as the recipient of the 2009 Paul R. Dawson Biotechnology Educator Award.
On MOTION (Bradberry, Carter) the Board affirmed the selection of Duane Miller (Tennessee) as the recipient of the 2009 Volwiler Research Achievement Award. Sudip Das recused himself from the selection noting a conflict related to another nominee.
On MOTION (Carter, Crabtree) the Board affirmed the selection of Article 01, Issue 1, “The Economic Impact of a College of Pharmacy” by Dick Gourley, PharmD, Shelley White-Means, PhD, and Jeff Wallace, PhD from the University of Tennessee-Memphis as the 2009 Lyman award paper.
The Board discussed a variety of strategies to encourage schools to identify their outstanding scientists and educators for future award cycles. COD chair Kroboth will include reminders in her communications to the deans. Profiling past recipients and their work, including possibly with a brochure distributed at the 2009 awards plenary, was also suggested.
12. Review of Award CriteriaThe Board discussed several requests for changes in criteria for the top AACP awards. On MOTION (Carter, Kroboth) the criteria for both the Volwiler and Dawson awards should be modified to include the phrase “at both the professional and graduate levels at an AACP member institution” effective with selection of the 2010 recipients.
The Board considered a query from AJPE Editor Joseph DiPiro on whether there should be a modification of the Lyman Award criteria to limit consideration of a paper from author(s) who had won the Lyman Award within the past few years. Recognizing that the award recognizes the best paper published in a volume, the Board decided that no such limit on eligibility seemed appropriate. Similarly, the Board clarified that a paper should not be excluded from consideration simply because a member of the AACP staff was a co-author.
13. Approval of AACP's Congressional/legislative Agenda for the 111th CongressWill Lang, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, reviewed the priorities articulated in the AACP policy agenda for the first session of the 111th Congress, including linking the work of members to efforts to reform the US health care system, expand opportunities for interprofessional education and practice, and increase resources for student aid and federally funded research. The Board encouraged staff to monitor and share information about the stimulus package implementation, especially in the area of NIH research funding. On MOTION (Bradberry, Hayes) the Board approved the Congressional/Legislative agenda for the first session of the 111th Congress. The Board asked that a review of current alliance and coalition activities be included in the March retreat agenda.
14. New Membership ModelCOO Cassidy reviewed financial and non-financial analyses that had been prepared by staff and reviewed by the AACP Finance Committee related to a proposed change to a non-dues based individual membership model. Based on assumptions related to conversion of print publications to electronic communications, subscription sales for print publications and modest increased meeting attendance the loss of dues revenue has a minimal impact on AACP's budget. The information will be reviewed by Dan Cassidy at the Interim Meeting townhall session and then will be communicated to members in the spring before presenting the proposal to delegates in July.
15. Past Policy Review by Bylaws and Policy Development CommitteeSpeaker Carter provided an overview of the on-going review of current AACP policy statements by the Bylaws and Policy Development Committee. Proposals to archive outdated or historical policy and amend statements that require new wording will be included in the preliminary BPDC report issued in April and will be acted upon by delegates during the final session of the July 2009 House of Delegates.
16. IPPE Competency Development ProjectSenior Vice President Ken Miller briefed the Board on the progress toward development of consensus competencies and assessment strategies for introductory pharmacy practice experiences. The working group met in early February and a report on their initial discussions will be provided by Marsha Millonig, project consultant, during the 2009 Interim Meeting townhall session. It is anticipated that the project will produce a list of competencies students must achieve prior to entering advanced pharmacy practice experiences and will provide an articulation between IPPE and APPE competencies.
17. Working Group on Corporate Funding and RelationsGary Matzke, Chair-elect for the Council of Faculties and Chair of the Working Group on Corporate Funding and Relations, outlined the work of the committee comprised of board members Chris Bradberry, Rod Carter, Brian Crabtree and Barbara Hayes. Frank Ascione (Michigan), Marie Smith (UConn) and Robert Sindelar (University of British Columbia) are also appointed to the working group. Materials reflecting policies adopted by other organizations, including several from member institutions have been distributed to the committee for review. The initial focus will be on AACP's organizational policy and then guidances will be developed to share with member institutions and their faculty members. The Board agreed that the ultimate test of any policy or the practice it guides are the principles of patient protection and organizational integrity.
18. Journal UpdateJoseph DiPiro, editor of the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, shared that Gary Kuhlman had been hired in the position of Assistant Editor which will allow the editorial staff to produce a total of eight issues of the 2009 volume. It is a priority of the editors to continue to publish guidance articles to help improve the quality of submissions and reviews. An increase in the number of papers submitted by international authors has been noted. Issues #3 and #4 in the current volume will contain papers on interprofessional education which will be organized as a journal supplement.
19. Update on Science Issues and FundingThis item was included in the discussion of Item #13.
20. Priorities and Status of AACP Policy AgendaThis item was included in the discussion of Item #13.
21. Strategic Planning Committee ReportPresident-elect Baldwin presented an overview of the initial meeting of the AACP Strategic Planning Committee which met November 17-18 in Tucson, AZ. The committee met with the president-elect of the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations to discuss opportunities to strengthen the linkages and partnerships between colleges and state pharmacy associations. Jeff outlined his priority for his presidential year as “Vision 20/20: Pharmacists' Contributions to Primary Care” and briefly discussed the results of the SWOT analysis which the committee had prioritized during their meeting.
22. Reports of the CouncilsChairs Kroboth, Szilagyi, and Das presented reports from their respective Councils which included updates on committee work and various appointments. During the discussion of the Council of Sections report, Sudip Das presented recommendations related to the New Investigator Program, including suggestions on providing support to NIP winners to encourage their attendance and presentation of their work at an AACP Annual Meeting. Further analysis of options and consideration of the financial implications of reduced registration fees and other travel support will be undertaken by staff with a report to the COS in July.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m. on February 21 after members of the Board and staff participated in a roundtable session covering meetings attended and other pertinent announcements.