Sam Augustine, Pharm.D., chair of the University of Nebraska Medical
Center College of Pharmacy "Shaping the Future Fund for Excellence"
campaign, announced Saturday a $500,000 deferred gift made by Dr. Lewis
E. Harris, co-founder and chairman emeritus, MDS Harris, to the University
of Nebraska Foundation.
This gift will establish the Lewis E. and Antonia E. Harris Chair in
Pharmacy at the college. The gift, along with a $90,000 commitment by Pfizer,
Inc., advanced the campaign total beyond the $2 million goal in the final
weeks of the five-year "Shaping the Future Fund for Excellence"
effort. To date, the total stands at $2,025,971 with the campaign scheduled
to conclude at the end of this month.
The campaign was initiated in conjunction with the celebration of the
college s 75th anniversary in 1992. "These gifts and the success of
the ‘Shaping the Future Fund’ will provide student scholarships and continued
access to a high quality faculty, as well as allow the purchase of state-of-the-art
equipment," said Dr. Augustine, a 1973 College of Pharmacy graduate.
"This was a tremendous opportunity to do something for the University
that has been such an important factor in my life, and I wanted to do whatever
was most useful to the college," said Dr. Harris, a 1932 University
of Nebraska College of Pharmacy graduate.
"After talking to Dean (Clarence) Ueda, I decided that an endowed
chair is more lasting and can help more students." Dr. Harris co-founded
Harris Laboratories in 1933 with his future wife, Antonia. They started
the business with "odds and ends" of discarded equipment obtained
from the University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy that Dr. Harris pieced
together in a small amount of leased space in downtown Lincoln.
Since its founding, Harris Laboratories has grown to be a global leader
in pharmaceutical testing with research and sales facilities in six countries.
Last year, the company merged with MDS Health Group Limited of Toronto,
Canada to form MDS Harris. While building Harris Laboratories, Dr. Harris
also rose through the ranks of Norden Laboratories and SmithKline Beecham
Corporation, serving as SmithKline Beecham s chairman from 1971 to 1976.
The $90,000 gift commitment by Pfizer, Inc. of New York establishes
two programs in the College of Pharmacy — $50,000 for minority student
scholarships and $40,000 for a pharmaceutical care certification program
for College of Pharmacy preceptors. Preceptors are pharmacists who provide
hands-on training opportunities in their pharmacies for UNMC College of
Pharmacy students. Dr. Augustine announced the Harris and Pfizer gifts
during the College of Pharmacy’s annual alumni reunion where he also thanked
graduates for helping the college meet its $2 million goal.
Since the initiation of the "Shaping the Future Fund for Excellence"
campaign, more than 570 College of Pharmacy graduates and friends, corporations
and foundations have made 1,055 gift commitments. Reaching the initiative’s
goal will further enable the college to recruit outstanding students, attract
and retain talented faculty, advance the professional program, build upon
a strong research base and strengthen outreach programs that meet the health
care and educational needs of the state and nation, said Clarence T. Ueda,
Pharm.D., Ph.D., dean, UNMC College of Pharmacy.
"Today more than ever before, and in the future, the generosity
of alumni and friends such as Dr. Harris and Pfizer will increasingly make
a difference in the scope and quality of programs that we will be able
to offer to students," said Dean Ueda. The University of Nebraska
Foundation is a non-profit corporation supplementing faculty, students,
facilities and programs at the University of Nebraska through gifts by
alumni, friends, corporations and other foundations.