School of Pharmacy KU Pharmacy School History

Lucius E. Sayre served as the first Dean of the KU School of Pharmacy. His influence helped shape the School both physically and philosophically. Sayre established the School in a two-room basement of the old chemistry building which was located near what is today Watson Library. In 1900, the School relocated into Bailey Hall. The first class included twenty three students. Under Sayre, the School became one of the most progressive in the Midwest, requiring that applicants complete four years of high school. He further changed the program from a two to a three year program and stressed that the next generation of pharmacists had to be better educated. Sayre’s principle was: “Quality rather than quantity…”

After Sayre passed away in 1925, L.D. Havenhill was appointed acting Dean until 1926 when he took over as permanent Dean and served to 1940. Havenhill improved the curriculum further and created a four year program that required 130 credit hours for the pharmacy degree. The program offered three course options: commercial, scientific, and premedical.

Following Havenhill’s retirement in 1940, J. Allen Reese became Dean and served until retiring in1962. At the age of 34, Reese became the youngest administrative official at KU and was the only Ph.D. on the Pharmacy faculty. He recognized the need for a graduate program and revised the curriculum to provide for the largest graduate level training and research program in pharmacy of any university in the western United States. The pharmacy program was also expanded to a five year program that included two years of pre-pharmacy requisites in the liberal arts. Although enrollments dropped during the war, there were then ninety students working in laboratories designed for twelve. In 1955, Malott Hall was opened and the KU School of Pharmacy relocated into a larger space.

Duane G. Wenzel was acting Dean from 1963 to 1964 and Dean from 1964 to 1965. Wenzel worked to streamline the curriculum, maintain the financial support, and added a dedicated curriculum and staff to the pharmacy program. He also espoused the philosophy that the School needed to expand and emphasize its research programs.

Howard E. Mossberg became Dean in 1966 and served until 1991 when he became KU’s Vice Chancellor for Research, Graduate Studies, and Public Service. Under Mossberg, the School attained unprecedented growth of the research programs in the basic sciences, new buildings on the west campus for graduate programs (i.e., Pharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratories, McCollum Laboratories, Smissman Laboratories, and Simons Research Laboratories), and a new $12 million addition to Malott Hall in 1980 to accommodate further growth of the pharmacy program. By the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the KU School of Pharmacy was consistently among the top five to ten Pharmacy Schools in NIH research funding. The School also grew to eventually five Departments with Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Health Services & Administration, and Pharmacy Practice, joining Pharmacology & Toxicology and Medicinal Chemistry. By 1988, the pharmacy program was split and included a five year Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree and a limited six year Doctor of Pharmacy degree. The School was admitting eighty students per year into the pharmacy program in 1988.

Ronald T. Borchardt and Gary Grunewald served as Interim Deans from 1992 to 1993 and 1993 to 1994, respectively. Both continued to support the School’s growing international prominence in pharmaceutical research and the movement towards an all Doctor of Pharmacy degree.

Jack E. Fincham was named Dean in 1994 and served until his departure for a position at the University of Georgia in early 2004. Fincham presided over major changes in the curriculum which included elimination of the five year Bachelor of Science Pharmacy degree and the offering of the Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1996 as the sole pharmacy degree offering by the School. By 2001, the School was admitting 105 students per year into the pharmacy program. He helped develop the non-Traditional Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum and degree offering aimed at KU trained pharmacists currently holding a Bachelor Science degree in pharmacy who desired the new degree. Under Fincham the School’s research programs continued to grow and were consistently among the top six Pharmacy Schools in NIH research funding.

Kenneth L. Audus was named the seventh Dean of the KU School of Pharmacy in 2004.