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PODS learning communities
About us:
The Professional Outreach and Development Societies (PODS) at the University of Iowa, College of Pharmacy were developed to foster leadership, professionalism, learning and service opportunities for past, present and future student pharmacists. These PODS are envisioned to facilitate peer-to-peer support and promote peer-to-peer education. Each society is made up of students, faculty, practitioners, and alumni to provide interactions and networking opportunities. These interactions are intended to aid in quality, collaborative education and the networking opportunities are designed to cultivate a growing profession. They are also are intended to increase the exchange of information between, and rapport with upper and lower classmen, increase the amount of faculty-student interpersonal relationships and provide student pharmacists with exposure to a diverse and cultured array of practitioners.
The college is separated into four communities. Our mission is to create an environment within the college promoting our four pillars of education: Fellowship, Service, Professionalism, & Learning.
- Fellowship – From orientation to commencement, then on to post graduation, the community learning structure is designed to foster relationships between students, faculty and alumni. We want incoming Pharm.D. students to feel comfortable from the minute they step foot in the classroom, as well as feel a sense of connection to the college when they graduate and move on.
- Professionalism – This is a key characteristic of any pharmacist, patients put a lot of trust into us, and it is because of our professional attitude. To help develop professional growth, communities will hold certain events, like inviting in professional speakers, holding curriculum vitae workshops, as well as interview workshops. We want the University of Iowa to continue to be known as a quality program in the pharmacy world.
- Service – The University of Iowa pharmacy curriculum now includes a set amount of pharmacy service hours to complete prior to graduation. The communities provide a supplement to our other student organizations, making it easier for students to complete this requirement. These events will also help show the local community and state of Iowa the positive impact our pharmacy students can have in health care.
- Learning – The community-learning environment will allow for greater fellowship between classes within the college. Once this fellowship between the classes has been established, students will feel more comfortable creating a dialogue with students in other classes, and will give an extra resource to help with coursework, study skills, as well as projects. The more students one knows, the more resources they will have to gain information. Students will also have greater opportunity to meet the faculty within their community and develop a relationship with them. This will help when students eventually have a question; if they have a good rapport with the faculty they will be more inclined to ask that faculty for assistance.
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