Meeting & Agendas

Meeting called to order by the chair, Terry Guilbert. Terry Guilbert congratulated Jason Sparks for his work well done as Acting Department Chair. Terry Guilbert also introduced and welcomed the new Department Chair, Zachary Corbell.

Zachary Corbell read that Mission Statement in order to review and see if changes needed to be made to them. Zachary Corbell announced that due to the decline of Pharmacy enrollment that he was in the process of putting a plan into place to aggressively market the program. Zachary Corbell mentioned that he was concerned with the competition from the local retail pharmacy. It is his understanding that some retail pharmacy employers are also providing training for students to earn their certifications. The board members voted not to make changes and leave it as is. In regards to competition from local retail pharmacy employers, some of the board members who are employers mentioned that the need for technician is so great and that ACC students are exceptional technicians and that the program should not be concerned. The local retail pharmacies want and need ACC graduates.

Jason Sparks announced that he had been elected by the Pharmacy Technician Educators Council (PTEC), as the President-elect. He was elected by the Texas Pharmacy Association Board of Directors (TPA), for Technician Representative and elected by the Capital-Area Pharmacy Association Board of Directors (CAPA), as the Treasurer. He also announced that he had received an award from the Texas Pharmacy Association for Outstanding Technician of the Year. In addition, Jason Sparks announced that he is currently working on two projects. He is writing the Pharmacy Practice for Technicians Lab Manual with Paradigm Publishing. He is also working on a Training Video Series with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists: Getting Started in Aseptic Compounding and Getting Started in Non-Sterile Compounding. Zachary Corbell announced that he was getting married in September 2007. The board members congratulated Jason Sparks and Zachary Corbell.

Next Meeting in 2008 - The board members agree to meet in February or March of 2008. The subcommittee will meet October 17, 2007. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair for 2008- Nominations for a new Chair and Vice Chair were presented to the committee. Vote was unanimous. Terry Guilbert will serve as the Advisory Board Chair for 2008 and Reneé Acosta will serve as the Vice Chair. Meeting Adjourned - Terry Guilbert adjourns meeting.

Committee members reviewed last meeting minutes of November 9, 2006. The committee members accepted the minutes with no corrections.

Jason Sparks presented an update regarding the program’s posters. The posters are printed and posted around the ACC campuses. All the print on the posters is legal and suitable for distribution. The posters will be used for further recruiting and for marketing the program. Jason Sparks also presented postcards, which will be used for recruiting as well. In addition, the program brochures have been updated with program revisions. Jason Sparks added that the program t-shirts are currently in production and will be ready for students to purchase soon. These new products should help the program market, recruit and build up the enrollment of the program. Discussion was opened to address the enrollment decline of the program. Zachary Corbell stated that folders with a letter, brochure, business card, and post card were being put together to send out to local high schools counselors. He stated that if any one had other suggestions to increase student enrollment in the program, he was ready to hear them. Kirk White suggested that in order to recruit that the Workforce Center should be contacted to see if maybe they might have individuals who are looking for careers in Pharmacy. Eileen Klein, Executive Dean of Health Science, stated that she had a list that indicated that the Pharmacy Technician field was not a high demand job. She indicated that if figures could be put together to rebuke this finding that she would be willing to address it with the Workforce and see if working relations could be opened with the program. Jason Sparks mentioned that an online information session was going to be available soon. This should give the program an edge on enrolling students to the program. Reneé Acosta suggested that Zachary Corbell contact the hospitals and see if they may be able to help divert students to the program. In addition, it was suggested that the program contact Capital IDEA as well. The ACC counselors may also need to be contacted to see if they may be able to help divert students into the program.

Jason Sparks announced that he is working to incorporate blackboard to all Pharmacy courses. He has looked at several software to see which would work best and has found that the QX1 software works best because it is user friendly and works closer to the windows program. In the future, students will get more computer base practice so they can become familiar with the computer.

Jason Sparks and Zachary Corbell are developing an assimilated practice exam for the students. The exam will give the students an opportunity to practice taking test. Zachary Corbell will be conducting reviews in class for those students who plan to use the practice exams. Eileen Klein suggested that the program contact Peg Raiford in regards to setting up the practice exams and preparing them for the students to use. Members of the board were concerned as to how students would be able to interact to questions from the exams. Terry Guilbert suggested that he would like to see if maybe the exams could be set to up interact with students. The members are also concern as to whether any copyright issues may be violated by using old exams. Jason Sparks will check into this. The exam at this time is not yet finished, but the members already see it as an advantage tool to attract students into the program.

Zachary Corbell announced that the program has 18 students for the fall who are entering the program. There are three students graduating on August 11.

Jason Sparks reviewed his finding of the program statistics requested from the board at the last meeting. The statistics numbers go through fall 2006. The information presented is the number of students completing the program, the status of registration, and the breakdown of Pharmacy student employment who reported data. The board would like to see more students graduate and ask that the program encourage them to finish. Reneé Acosta advised the new department chair look into possibly condensing the hours of the program. It was decided that a subcommittee meet to discuss on how to restructure the program to accomplish the condensation. The members of this subcommittee are Reneé Acosta, Elizabeth Huss, Jason Sparks, and Zachary Corbell.

Jason Sparks announced that there are two new sites. Johns Hospital in Taylor, Texas and Quick Pharmacy in Round Rock. Reneé Acosta suggested that Zach Corbell visit St. David’s to see if can recruit this site. Reneé Acosta recommended that the Department Chair send out letters to affiliated sites each semester even if the program sees that students will not be sent to those sites. This is just good public relation practice. Reneé Acosta also suggested that Zachary Corbell visit all the sites and introduce himself. The sites need to be reassured that ACC is full staff and ready to work with them.

Zachary Corbell stated that there has been confusion in evaluating testing standards. There is TSI exempt and TSI compliance interpretations. As a remedy to help solve the mishap, Zachary Corbell recommends that the program adopt the written ACC standards, which is used by other health science programs. In addition, Zachary Corbell recommended that the math standard be adjusted to reflect the TSI compliance number. This would mean that the number would change from 30 to 26. Jason Sparks presented statistics to show that students who scored below 30 were still able to pass pharmacy courses. He mentioned that the change should not affect the students or courses. The board members discussed the concerns regarding the need for the change and voted to change the standards as recommended by the Department Chair, Zachary Corbell. The changes will go into effect immediately. This new standard change will be presented at the information sessions.