Hannaford Charitable Foundation awards UNE $1 M to fund College of Pharmacy

The University of New England has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Hannaford Charitable Foundation to help fund their new College of Pharmacy. This gift is one of the largest grants ever awarded by the Foundation.

The $1 million grant will go toward the construction of a clinical practice laboratory for the new College of Pharmacy’s four-year Pharm.D. graduate program, to be located on the University’s Westbrook College Campus in Portland.

The laboratory will be designed and fully-equipped to serve as a model pharmacy in order to provide state-of-the-art and realistic hands-on experience for students, better preparing them for rotations and ultimately, professional practice. It will be a controlled setting with instruction, oversight and mentoring from professors where students first learn how to compound prescription products, take the necessary steps to dispense a prescription and interact with and counsel patients and practitioners seeking services and expertise. 

“UNE and Hannaford share a commitment to the health and well being of the local communities we serve. The University of New England is a recognized leader in healthcare education for the state and the region and the Hannaford Charitable Foundation is pleased to be able to partner with UNE in training the next generation of pharmacists, ” said Mark Doiron, a senior vice president of Hannaford Supermarkets.

‚ÄúThese funds from Hannaford provide much needed support for the start of a College of Pharmacy at UNE,‚Äù said President Danielle Ripich. ‚ÄúThis gift also demonstrates that this prestigious foundation recognizes the importance of this new college to the region.  We are honored to have been selected as a recipient of their award.‚Äù

In addition to this gift from the Hannaford Charitable Foundation, UNE’s College of Pharmacy was recently awarded two other grants, by the Libra Foundation and the Betterment Fund. The Libra Foundation awarded the University $200,000 to go toward capital costs and the Betterment Fund awarded UNE a $100,000 grant to establish an endowed scholarship for College of Pharmacy graduate students.

UNE’s pre-pharmacy program, located on the University Campus in Biddeford, was overwhelmed with applications and is full for the fall 2007 term with more than 50 students currently registered, and it plans to accept up to 100 pre-pharmacy students next year. The four-year Pharm.D. graduate program, located on the Westbrook College Campus in Portland, is on schedule to open in 2009. The State Board of Education will meet later this summer to approve UNE’s plan to offer these degrees. In addition, the College is moving forward in the accreditation process with final application materials due in May of 2008.

College of Pharmacy Dean John Cormier said, “With this exciting new collaboration with Hannaford, UNE’s College of Pharmacy has the potential to address the critical shortage of pharmacists that exists in the state and across the nation.” He added, “It is largely through the generous support of such organizations as the Hannaford Charitable Foundation that the University will sustain its momentum in bringing this program to fruition.”

Hannaford Charitable Foundation
The Hannaford Charitable Foundation was established in 1994 as part of a charitable giving program to provide financial support to non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the communities in which Hannaford operates. Preference for funding is given to organizations or programs that involve Hannaford associates, are located in Hannaford's marketing territory and have the potential for providing ongoing services for a large segment of their customer base.

In determining which programs to support, the Foundation considers the benefit to the community, other area programs supported recently and whether those programs are similar to ones currently being considered. In 2006, the Foundation contributed over $1.4 million to 135 organizations across their five- state marketing area.

Libra Foundation
The Libra Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation created by Elizabeth Noyce in 1989. The Foundation has made significant contributions to worthy causes throughout the state of Maine, embracing the sense of proportion and fairness defined by its name, by maintaining a balance and diversity of giving throughout Maine and across all populations. Traditionally, small grants are given to many organizations as opposed to large grants to only a few. Areas of giving include arts, culture and humanities, education, environment, health, human services, justice, public/society benefit and religion.

The Libra Foundation is a long-time supporter of the University of New England, most recently giving $1 million to support the UNEqualed Vision Campaign's renovation of the Westbrook College Campus. 

Betterment Fund
The Betterment Fund was created in the will of William Bingham, II, a resident of Bethel, Maine, who died in 1955. Mr. Bingham was a self-effacing philanthropist with an abiding interest in education and the improvement of health services in the state of Maine. Since Mr. Bingham's death, the Betterment Fund has established scholarship funds in his memory at several Maine colleges with scholarship award preference to be given to residents of Bethel, Oxford County and the state of Maine in that order of priority.

The Betterment Fund makes grants exclusively to benefit the residents of the state of Maine. Priority in funding is generally given to proposals seeking to impact the more rural parts of Maine.

The Betterment Fund has funded three other endowed scholarships at UNE.