Kent State and the Northeast Ohio Medical School signed an agreement Monday allowing students to complete an undergraduate and doctorate of pharmacy degree in seven years, rather than the usual eight years.

Students who are currently at NEOMED will be able to transfer their coursework back to Kent State per this agreement in order to earn credits toward an undergraduate degree.

This also applies to students who are already enrolled in a chemistry or biochemistry program.

Charles Taylor, dean of the College of Pharmacy at NEOMED, said he is excited about this new opportunity and believes it will benefit all parties involved.

“The incentive is to get the very best and brightest students to come to NEOMED and be student pharmacists,” Taylor said. “I believe the program here at Kent State really does that. They prepare a wonderful science background, which helps our students be very, very successful. So if I can help that happen, I’m really excited about that.”

According to Michael Tubergen, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry chair, this agreement has been in the works since 2008. He said the No. 1 goal in the department is to better prepare students to go to pharmacy school without having to spend extra time getting an undergraduate degree.

“There is a lot of interest and excitement there of people who don’t want to spend the full four years to get the undergraduate degree. There are a lot of people who see the value in getting both degrees,” Tubergen said. “[NEOMED] has indicated to us that the students who go through this type of training are among their better students, so they are eager to get as many as they can get.”

Provost Todd Diacon said his goals for the agreement are to “improve students’ access to higher education, reduce the amount of time it takes for them to get two degrees, and make them imminently and immediately employable, but to do it in a way that maintains academic rigor.”

Diacon hopes that pipeline programs such as this and the B.S.M.D. program, which allows students to finish an undergraduate and medical degree in six years, will accomplish goals he has set out for himself as provost of the university.

“I would like all students to know, especially the students that are interested in the sciences, that we have this great connection with a great public medical university that is just five miles down the road,” Diacon said.

Pre-Pharmacy is the second-largest group of students in the chemistry and biochemistry departments.

“I think it opens up a lot of opportunities. We have had a long history of partnership with Kent State and it has just been a positive experience,” Taylor said. “I could see more evolve from this as we continue to identify new opportunities and ways to strengthen our partnership.”

Contact Haley Baker at [email protected].