Pharmacy's Shauna Buring, PharmD, Sees the Impact of Giving

The 2014 campaign, "UC the Impact,” started in early 2014 and continues through June. This year’s campaign, and upcoming stories in "Featured,” will focus on the significant impact that faculty and staff gifts have on Academic Health Center colleges and the university:

Having earned three degrees from the University of Cincinnati, Shauna Buring, PharmD, is understandably a huge fan of UC. It could easily be said that she’s one pretty proud alumnus. Add to that her position as the associate dean for professional education and assessment at UC’s James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, and her Bearcat pride jumps up yet another notch.

"The longer I’m here and the more I learn and get to know about the university the more I believe in it,” Buring says of an intrinsic support for the university that shows by the beam on her face when she speaks about the university—and specifically when she speaks to why she chooses to lend her financial support to the annual faculty and staff fundraising campaign.

"When the faculty and staff believe in UC and contribute to the campaign it shows that we are willing to invest in the same institution that we want others to invest in as well,” Buring says of her philosophy to be an active contributor —a philosophy she established after coming on board with the college in 2001 as an assistant professor.

Buring, who earned her associate degree in chemical technology (’87), a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy (’91) and a PharmD (96) degree from UC, says what prompted her to take notice of the campaign early on was hearing another faculty member talk about it with abounding enthusiasm. As Buring recalls it, the faculty member expressed, "If you believe in your institution then it’s important to give back to show that you believe. Yes, we’re all working here and we’re committed and we get a paycheck, but why wouldn’t you contribute if you believe in the mission and the vision of the university?”

While initially Buring gave to the campaign’s general fund, she later decided to target her contribution: first to the Wuest Pharmacy Practice Fund, which helps support the college’s clinical skills lab, where students practice immunizations, cholesterol screenings, patient counseling and compounding sterile products.

This year, however, Buring says she was moved to target her contribution to the Dave Lutomski Memorial Fund. 

Lutomski, who passed away in April 2014, was a clinical pharmacist in the area of trauma and surgery at University of Cincinnati Medical Center for over 30 years, during which time he also served as a part-time faculty member at the college and preceptor to scores of pharmacy students—including Buring.

"I just knew that I wanted to honor him and his practice. He was a mentor to me and had a great way of bringing out the best in people, challenging what they know and doing the best for the benefit of the patient … all with a very dry sense of humor.”   

What Lutomski instilled in Buring is now being passed on to future students … a legacy and testament to the theme of this year’s campaign: UC the Impact.  

To learn more about UC’s Faculty & Staff Campaign and other giving opportunities visit the University of Cincinnati Foundation website here. To learn more about how to contribute to the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy contact Meridy Glenn at 513-556-6788 or via email meridy.glenn@uc.edu.