Greetings alumni and friends of the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy,

As we complete another semester at the college and we near the end of 2016, it is a good time to reflect on the past year and to look forward to the new year.

It has been nearly three and a half years since I was appointed dean and one thing for which I am extremely grateful is the faculty and staff of the college. We've been able to increase the number of faculty from 31 upon my arrival to 41, and we've also added new staff positions over this time, including a second member of our IT team, an instructional designer, an alumni director and an interprofessional coordinator across the entire Academic Health Center. I think we've made some amazing hires that will enable our college to continue its upward trajectory and to enable us to achieve our new vision of "Lead. Care. Transform."
 
I recently heard New York Times bestselling author Patrick Lencioni speak about his new book, The Ideal Team Player. In his presentation, he argued that there are three virtues of someone who exemplifies the ideal team player: humble, hungry and smart. I spoke briefly about these virtues at our college holiday party and thought I would share them with you now:
 ?Humility means that all of us, regardless of our education and experiences, should have a learning attitude and be willing to serve others,
?Hungry means that we should have a core passion that drives us. In our case, our faculty and staff have a hunger for teaching, research and service, and finally,
?Smartin the content of this book does not mean IQ, but rather emotional intelligence; the ability to read situations and to relate to others. These three virtues are equally as important for pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, cosmetic chemists, pharmacy owners and managers, and for our very own students and faculty.
 
Speaking of faculty, Dr. Jane Pruemer will be retiring at the end of month. We are saddened to see her go, but she has been granted Emerita Professor status by the university in recognition of the significant impact she has had on oncology pharmacy practice over the past 3 decades. Dr. Rowena (Moe) Schwartz has joined our college to fill this faculty position and she, too, has had an amazing career in hospital pharmacy, academia and in the pharmaceutical industry.

Finally, I want to wish you a very merry Christmas and holiday season! Please visit us in 2017 to check out the new spaces as part of our $34 million renovation to Kowalewski Hall.

"Dean Mac"
 Neil MacKinnon, PhD, Dean and Professor
 University of Cincinnati James L Winkle College of Pharmacy
 Twitter and Instagram: @RxDeanMac