Stepping down, but not out …
After 13 years as VCU School of Pharmacy’s executive associate dean, William E. Smith is hanging up his hat.
His executive associate dean’s hat, that is. For now, he’s going to retain at least a couple of his other hats, including professor of pharmacy and in-house director of the Smith Building renovation project.
It’s lucky for the school that he’s sticking with the renovation project, whose end is now in sight. Smith is quick to acknowledge the help he’s received from people such as Scott Crenshaw, SOP building manager, and VCU Facilities Management personnel, as well as organizations such as the Richmond architectural firm of BCWH and the Newport News-based construction company, Clancy & Theys.
In an almost unheard-of move, the renovation of the Smith Building’s first, second and fifth floors should be finished ahead of schedule.
The fifth floor, housing the Dean’s Suite and including the Office of Admissions and Student Services, was complete in May. The second floor, with its expanded and ramped-up labs, is on schedule to be done by mid-August. And now it’s possible that the first floor — featuring the new student commons area and a new entrance to the building — also will be operational by the time students return.
Smith (the man, not the building) already has moved to an office on the fourth floor, although his “final resting place” (his words) will be on the third floor, neighboring the office of Phartech guru Brian Canaday.
When the dust settles and Smith doffs the hard hat he’s been sporting on and off for the last year, he will be teaching in the Foundations Lab and designing a pharmacotherapy simulation laboratory. In the spring, he will helm the new Institutional Pharmacy class for third-year students.
He also plans to write, based on his professional experiences, about the profession of pharmacy, its status and future. That’s something he’s been contemplating for a while, as evidenced by presentations such as one he made to the Voluntary Hospitals of America pharmacy leadership group on “Institutional Pharmacy’s Future: 2008-2015.”
Among Smith’s notable achievements are his 2008 appointment to the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The first pharmacist ever appointed to AHRQ, he will complete his term in November.
Other recent professional activities include having served on the advisory board for pharmacydirectors.com and as an external reviewer for the M.S. graduate programs at Albany College of Pharmacy.
Smith served as vice president of pharmacy services and research administration and assistant dean of the Long Beach (Calif.) Memorial Medical Center for 23 years. For three years prior to his arrival at VCU School of Pharmacy, he was chairman of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Bouve College of Pharmacy and Health Science at Northeastern University in Boston.
He earned his Pharm.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, his M.P.H. in health services administration from the University of California at Los Angeles, and his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical science from Auburn University. In 1980, Smith was honored with UCSF’s Alumnus of the Year Award. In 1982, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists honored him with the Whitney Lecture Award.
As he’s not retiring just yet, Smith plans to continue pursuing his usual hobbies and interests when time permits, including watching and coaching baseball, reading U.S. history, visiting Virginia historical sites and tooling around in an RV with his wife, Kay Smith. And if you have a minute, just ask about his four grandchildren! “Grandpa” Smith has some great stories to share.
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