Always advancing

The Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy adapts its programming alongside the ever-evolving health care industry. We continue to advance our curriculum, programs, research and community outreach initiatives to stay a step ahead of the industry landscape. Our dedicated, experienced professors support students and graduates through their entire careers at Pacific. We empower students to succeed by providing access to state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment for meaningful, hands-on learning, mentoring, leadership and patient care.

Always leading

Our faculty and staff are committed to providing innovative and unrivaled leadership opportunities that ensure graduates leave Pacific as practice-ready professionals. Hands-on learning is key to our programs. Our students engage in local health care outreach activities and clinical rotations as part of their degree requirements. Students can choose from a diverse range of student organizations where they can gain leadership experience, travel to conferences and present faculty-guided research. By preparing the next generation of leaders, Pacific will continue to thrive as a top health science school in the country.

Always engaging

At the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy, students have an unparalleled advantage with connections to a powerful and influential network of alumni across the country. Our alumni have left a legacy of success and leadership, and Pacific graduates hold a coveted status in local, state and national professional organizations. Many of our alumni have been honored with state and national recognition for their work and several are members of their profession's Hall of Fame. At Pacific, we proudly leverage our alumni network by connecting students to experts in the industry. Our impressive alumni network collaborates with students through mentoring, precepting, providing research opportunities and sharing expertise in the classroom.

The mission of the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy (the School) is to prepare students for lifelong success in health careers by providing an excellent, student-centered learning environment. We aspire to develop leadership skills in our students and a strong commitment to their professions, to interprofessional collaboration, and to society. These efforts are assisted by linkages across the University of the Pacific (the University) professional and liberal arts programs. We support outstanding professional and graduate teaching, research and other scholarly activity, and services as a means of achieving our mission.

The Pharmacy program of the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy will be among the top 25% of private pharmacy schools in the United States, nationally and internationally recognized as a source of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists of exceptional ability who can effectively contribute to the healthcare team and system through the optimization of patient outcomes and scholarly work, and will be distinguished by innovative student-centered teaching, inter-professional education experiences, and curricular programming, research, and service.

We will consistently strive to achieve and promote the following values:

  • Excellence — in practice, academics (both teaching and learning), research, service and leadership;
  • Professionalism — encouraging integrity as an essential part of pharmacy practice, research and education;
  • Student-centeredness — encouraging and fostering academic and professional interactions between students and faculty, both inside and outside of the classroom;
  • Critical thinking and problem solving — developing effective leaders and citizens of our communities and the world, as providers and consumers of health care and members of our profession;
  • Discovery — recognizing the obligation of the academy, contributing through discovery and scholarly activity to knowledge in the fields of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences;
  • Accountability — recognizing that, as health care professionals, we are patient-centered and responsible to help our patients optimize their health outcomes;
  • Human dignity — recognizing that every individual deserves respect and will at different times both struggle and excel;
  • Ethics — in all of our interactions, so that our teaching, practice, research, leadership and service are above reproach; and
  • Quality improvement - developing and utilizing measurable quality assessment techniques and best practices to inform decision-making and enhance the quality of our programs.
Nationally recognized student leadership

The Pacific experience is what sets our graduates apart. Our graduates have the clinical knowledge cultivated through Pacific's decades of experience, but they also gain the leadership necessary to pioneer the future of pharmacy. Every year, Pacific’s doctor of pharmacy students fill 230 leadership positions.

Pacific's chapter of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) serves as an umbrella organization that oversees all of the pharmacy-related student groups, including health care outreach committees, student chapters of professional organizations and professional pharmacy fraternities.

 

APhA-ASP pharmacy student leaders

Contact Us

Carmen K. Swanson
Assistant Director, Office of Student Affairs
209.946.2528
cswanson@pacific.edu

Who is APhA-ASP? | Orientation Video

A Daring Dream Becomes a Reality
History of the School

Since 1955, the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy has been training health care professionals who are problem-solvers, innovators and leaders. The School was shaped into what it is today by the hard work, dedication and support of its charismatic faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends. Throughout our history, individualized, faculty-led experiential learning programs, combined with the support of a powerful alumni network, have led to student success.

Dean Rowland meets first pharmacy class
First pharmacy graduates
A legacy of excellence

President Robert E. Burns ’31, PhD, established a precedent for innovation at Pacific. This spirit of risk-taking led him to establishing the third pharmacy school in California. To make this daring dream into a reality required the leadership of a visionary dean who could see past the bare light bulbs and limited space of Weber Hall. President Burns recruited Ivan W. Rowland, PhD, to be the inaugural dean. In turn, Dean Rowland gathered a core group of founding faculty.

Early on, the founding faculty established fraternities and student chapters of professional organizations; setting a standard for scholarly achievement, health care outreach and networking.

Organizations Established
1956 | Alpha Psi chapter of Phi Delta Chi
1960 | Gamma Nu chapter of Kappa Psi
1964 | Beta Omega chapter of Rho Chi
1965 | Rho chapter of Phi Lambda Sigma
1992 | Lambda Sigma chapter of Rho Pi Phi

The move to North Campus

By 1960, the School had reached peak enrollment. Dean Rowland began to search in earnest for the space and funds for a new building. The Edward and Alice Long Memorial Hall was completed in 1969. A year later the School initiated the first accelerated, three-year trimester pharmacy program in the nation.

Rotunda building on North Campus
Pharmacy student leaders in the Chan Family Health Sciences Learning Center
Spaces to learn and collaborate

In 2003, the Chan Family Health Sciences Learning Center and Clinics opened, providing much-needed classroom, lecture and clinical space. Renovations were completed in 2018, adding additional classrooms, offices and study spaces.

Training future pharmacists

In 2005, the Donald Y. Barker Pharmaceutical Care Lab was dedicated in honor of Donald Y. Barker, PhD, professor emeritus, who during his tenure at Pacific taught and mentored thousands of students. In the pharmacy practice lab first year students are introduced to compounding and working in a clean room environment.

PharmD students in the compounding lab
Group of PharmD students at the White Coat Ceremony
What’s in a name?

The Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy is home to the Pre-Pharmacy Advantage Program, Doctor of Pharmacy Program and Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences Program. The School’s name recognizes more than $20 million of support from the Thomas J. Long Foundation and the Long family over the course of the School’s history.