The College Welcomes Three New Tenure-Track Faculty Members

In survey after survey, the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy continues to be ranked among the nation’s best pharmacy education programs.

What accounts for the College’s consistently high ranking?

Ask that question of Dean Frank J. Ascione, BSPharm’69, PharmD’73, PhD, and he reels off a list of reasons: talented students, dedicated staff, modern facilities, state-of-the-art instrumentation and equipment, generous scholarship support, loyal and active alumni, a strong endowment, strategic partnerships inside and outside the University, and affiliation with a worldclass health system.

But these combined elements of excellence mean little unless they are coupled with quality faculty in the classroom, the clinic, and the laboratory, Ascione observes.

“Without talented, committed faculty, sustained, comprehensive academic excellence is unattainable,” he explains. “Over the years, we have had success attracting and retaining such faculty. As a result, we’ve had great program stability and continuity. Talented faculty also attract the best students, who graduate and become successful alumni. Great academic traditions are built upon these foundations.”

That said, Ascione notes that faculty recruitment is a neverending process. Case in point: The College is currently recruiting new faculty to fill vacancies created by recently retired, or about-to- retire, professors.

In addition, the College is recruiting faculty for new, endowed professorships. Two of these faculty positions — the Ara G. Paul Professorship and the Hans W. Valteich Professorship — will have joint appointments at the College and at the University’s Life Sciences Institute. A third endowed chair — the Charles R. Walgreen III Professorship in Pharmacy Administration — will also have a joint appointment, most likely at U-M’s Ross School of Business.

“A top recruitment priority for us always, regardless of the position, is that faculty members must be passionate about teaching, about their research, about improving the human condition. Individuals with these qualities have a gift for inspiring high achievement among our PharmD and PhD students — and that’s our ultimate goal.”

The three new tenure-track faculty members, who have joined the College for the start of academic year 2005-2006, certainly exemplify these qualities.

Richard P. Bagozzi
PhD, MBA, MS
Professor of Social and Administrative Sciences (College of Pharmacy); Professor of Marketing (Ross School of Business)
E-mail: bagozzi@umich.edu

A world renowned scientist in the area of social psychology and marketing, Bagozzi has garnered just about every major award that an academic can receive in the field of marketing. His expertise in areas of critical importance to modern pharmacy practice and education make him a ideal fit, says Social and Administrative Sciences (SAS) Chair Caroline A. Gaither.

“Rick’s research theories and models — which draw upon the theory of action and the theory of the mind in philosophy — have been applied to such health behaviors as hypertension management, physicians’ use of drug information sources, health professional decision-making, nutrition, body weight maintenance, dieting, exercising, and bone marrow donation,” explains Gaither.

His work in organizational behavior examines a wide range of social identity processes and their causes and effects in organizations, ethnic groups, and small groups. Bagozzi’s research in statistics addresses the relationship between concepts and measurements, construct validity, and hypothesis testing by use of structural equation models in the behavioral and social sciences and management.

“Rick has collaborated with several College faculty over the years — myself included — so we know him and his work, quite well,” Gaither states. “He is a first-rate scholar, teacher, and person, deeply committed to students.”

His research interests match well with those of other SAS faculty, specifically: Gaither’s research on organizational behaviors; Associate Professor David Nau’s research on medication errors and quality of medication use; and those of new SAS Assistant Professor Suzan Kucukarslan [see her profile, next page].

Bagozzi, the former J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Management, Marketing, Behavioral Science and Psychology at Rice University, will have a 65 percent appointment at U-M’s Ross School of Business and a 35 percent appointment at the College of Pharmacy.

Garry D. Dotson
PhD, BSPharm
Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
E-mail: gdotson@umich.edu

Dotson received his BSPharm degree from Ferris State University in 1985, worked three years as a staff pharmacist at Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo, and then attended the U-M where he received his PhD from the Interdepartmental Program in Medicinal Chemistry in 1994. Dotson then spent four years as a postdoctoral research associate in biochemistry at Duke University Medical Center, where he built upon his PhD studies in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis.

In 1998, he joined DuPont as a research biochemist in the firm’s central research and development division. He was promoted to senior research biochemist in 2002, and in this role, he became the lead biochemistry researcher on the project: “Biological production of 1,3-propanediol from glucose using metabolically engineered E. coli.” This project was subsequently awarded the EPA Green Chemistry Challenge Award.

“Initially, Garry will co-teach Med Chem 412: Principles of Medicinal Chemistry III, and will coordinate Med Chem 533: Survey of Medicinal Chemistry, a graduate class taught mainly by adjunct faculty from nearby Pfizer,” explains Ronald W. Woodard, chair of the Interdepartmental Program in Medicinal Chemistry, and Dotson’s former PhD advisor.

“Garry’s research will focus on the design of novel antimicrobial chemotherapeutics directed against essential biochemical pathways in pathogenic microorganisms. His main emphasis will be to generate molecules having the desired inhibitory action on specific sub-molecular targets, based either on a detailed understanding of enzyme mechanism and/or high throughput screening of compound (peptide and non-peptide) libraries using various molecular genetic techniques,” Woodard states.

Information obtained from studies will be used to design subsequent generations of inhibitors with more optimal properties. Primary targets will be enzymes involved in bacterial coenzyme A and lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis.

“Garry’s pharmacy training and experience, combined with his PhD in medicinal chemistry and industry experience, make him an outstanding and unique addition to our faculty. He was a great teaching assistant at Michigan, a natural in the classroom. Students are really going to like him and learn a lot from him.”

Suzan Kucukarslan
PhD, MBA, BSPharm
Assistant Professor of Social and Administrative Sciences
E-mail: skucukar@umich.edu, skucuka1@hfhs.org

Prior to joining the College in early October, Kucukarslan was manager of the Center for Drug Use Analysis and Information in the department of pharmacy at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

For seven years before that, she was an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Administration at Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. She began her career as an assistant manager, then manager, at Revco Drug Stores in Kansas City, Mo.

“Suzan is widely known and nationally respected in social and administrative sciences for her contributions to improved clinical outcomes,” states SAS Chair Gaither. “She not only brings considerable academic experience to her new post at our College, she also brings extensive practice experience as a clinician and researcher in a major health-system, and as a community pharmacist.

“Her recent research focuses on issues related to patient satisfaction, an area of keen interest to managed care organizations and other providers who rely on consumer data to measure service quality.

“While at Henry Ford Hospital, Suzan also investigated medication errors and the quality of medication use. Her health system experience will complement ongoing SAS initiatives with University of Michigan Health System, and the College’s Center for Medication Use, Policy, and Economics.

“Suzan is a wonderful teacher and very excited about returning to an academic institution,” Gaither notes. “She is a high-energy presenter, a very positive person, and will be a great role model for students.”

The first courses Kucukarslan will teach are SAS 476: Principles of Research and Problem-Solving and a graduate course on patient satisfaction. She is also likely to co-teach SAS 540: Managing the Richard P. Bagozzi Medication Use System, Gaither says.