What impact will the Kennedy gift have on the South Carolina College of Pharmacy?
The Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center will enable the South Carolina College of Pharmacy to transform pharmacy practice in South Carolina and serve as a model for the country. It will promote faculty development and innovation through student training in unique settings, as well.

How will it change the way pharmacy is taught?
The pharmacy profession is in the midst of great change, and future pharmacists need innovative approaches to meet new challenges of health care to maximize their quality of service. The Kennedy Center will enable students to tap into a collaborative, inter-disciplinary environment of pharmacy practice ingenuity that will prepare them to be regional and national leaders in the profession.

What does 'pharmacy practice innovation' really mean?
Today's pharmacist has to be an astute business entrepreneur as well as a trusted healthcare provider. Rapid and fundamental changes to the healthcare system will emphasize this need. Teaching innovation in pharmacy practice means preparing students with the intellectual agility to adapt, anticipate and succeed in an ever changing practice environment and to create new businesses and services that are needed in health care.

Why is a Center like this necessary?
Healthcare is in a dynamic state of change. Pharmacy leaders within the healthcare community are playing an increasingly important role in disease prevention and management. As healthcare delivery strategies and methods change, pharmacists must be prepared to meet new challenges with solutions that maximize the quality of service.

What specific programs will the center have?
The program will have components of education, enrichment and discovery. The Kennedy Center will combine the nation's top minds in health care entrepreneurship, health sciences, communications and other disciplines with leading pharmacy practice faculty. The SCCP is putting together the team of faculty and advisers who will design the specific program content. Likely specifics may include scholarships for students, an endowed chair, fellowships, a Kennedy lecture series, specialized training and additional entrepreneurial courses and certifications. See list of "Proposed Activities."

How does the money support other programs at the college?
It doesn't. The gift is intended solely for developing new programs in pharmacy innovation.

How much is allocated to each of the programs?
Exact amounts have not been set for each component of the program.

Will USC be building a new facility to house the center?
No, but the Center will be housed on the USC campus at the Coker Life Sciences Building and Discovery I in Innovista. The Kennedy gift is to establish the programmatic elements of the Center. The SCCP's curriculum and distance education technology bind the campuses in Columbia, Charleston and Greenville into one statewide entity so every pharmacy student will benefit from the Kennedy Center's entrepreneurial education.

Is this the largest gift ever to the college of pharmacy?
Yes.

Will students at other USC colleges be able to participate in the programs?
Yes. The Kennedy Center will meld pharmaceutical, business and management principles to provide resources for students, faculty and researchers. Students in collaborating programs such as the Darla Moore School of Business, USC health sciences schools and Mass Communications and Information Studies will have exciting new educational opportunities through the center.

Will students at colleges outside of USC be able to participate in the programs?
College of Pharmacy students based at the Medical University of South Carolina or at Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center will have the same opportunities as students located at USC, facilitated by the College's distance education program. The SCCP is putting together the team of faculty and advisers who will design the specific program content, including components that would be open to the public.