Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy to Hold Professional Commitment Ceremony

Press Release

The Ohio Northern University (ONU) Raabe College of Pharmacy will conduct its annual professional commitment ceremony in the ONU Sports Center on November 14, 2015.

Hanley Wheeler, senior vice president of field operations for the West Division of CVS/pharmacy, will be the keynote speaker at the event, which marks the transition from the students’ first 3 years of ONU pharmacy education to their final 3 professional years.

During the annual professional commitment ceremony, third-year pharmacy students receive their white coats from their pharmacist mentors—a symbol of this milestone in their journeys to become pharmacists. Each student will receive his or her white coat from 1 of more than 100 alumni who will be on campus to serve as mentors for the students as they progress in the pharmacy profession.

“It is important for our students to have pharmacists as professional mentors—someone they can turn to for advice and guidance in their professional careers and to help them in their professional development and growth,” Steven J. Martin, dean of the Raabe College of Pharmacy said.

Those third-year students who already have pharmacists serving as their mentors will invite them to coat them at the white coat ceremony to both honor and continue their relationship. Those students who do not yet have mentors will be matched with pharmacists from a list of alumni and friends of the college who have volunteered to mentor students and participate in the white coat ceremony that day.

Efforts will be made to match each student with a pharmacist from a practice background of interest to the student.

“ONU is proud to have a long list of successful pharmacist alumni and friends from a variety of practice backgrounds and experiences who have volunteered to serve as mentors to our students,” Martin said. “Our hope is that the professional commitment event will act as a springboard beyond the third year to a continuing relationship where mentors assist students in expanding their knowledge of the pharmacy profession and various career options and guide in their professional development long after graduation.”

In addition to receiving their white coats, students take an oath of professional commitment to signify their commitment to the profession and their future patients.

Wheeler earned his Bachelor of Science from ONU’s College of Pharmacy in 1982. He received the college’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.

Wheeler recently joined the Ohio Northern University Board of Trustees, and he has recently accepted a position as a board member of the national chapter of the American Lung Association.