Pharmacy school gets new name
Archived article from Jan 25, 2002
By Mark Maben and Douglas Frank
The College of Pharmacy has been renamed the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, honoring the 1961 pharmacy graduate. The Ernest & Mildred Martha Mario Foundation recently pledged $5 million to the school. It is the largest gift in the college's 109-year history.
The action was taken at the December meeting of the Rutgers Board of Governors. The board also approved the creation of a new endowed chair, named for pharmacy Dean John L. Colaizzi, which will be endowed by $2 million of the gift.
Along with the new chair in pharmacy, the foundation's donation will support a technology fund for disciplines related to the development and production of pharmaceuticals, a postdoctoral institute for graduate fellows in industrial pharmacy, an endowment for student scholarships and the Dean's Academic Excellence Fund.
"This gift, which embodies Ernest Mario's commitment to excellence, will enable hundreds of pharmacy students and faculty members to achieve their personal best and, in turn, provide invaluable service to the public and the health care community," said President Francis L. Lawrence.
Mario, who served in leadership positions at major pharmaceutical companies throughout the country, is currently chair of Apothogen Inc., a recently formed pharmaceutical development company located in North Carolina.
"It's wonderful to have a school with so distinguished a reputation named in my honor, and I am especially pleased that this gift will celebrate the ongoing contributions of the school with an endowed professorship in the dean's name," he said.
Colaizzi has headed the pharmacy college since 1978 and during his tenure has overseen the expansion of the school, including the doubling of the size of the faculty and significant increases in research funding and enhancements to the academic programs. Colaizzi called Mario "an exceptional individual" who, despite a hectic schedule, "always has time to regularly visit our campus to meet with students and offer advice."
Joseph J. Seneca, university vice president for academic affairs, remarked that both Colaizzi and Mario have had "a lifelong dedication to the goals and benefits of higher education, and both are individuals of the highest professional standards."
The Mario Foundation's donation is the latest leadership gift to The Rutgers Campaign: Creating the Future Today. Publicly announced in April 2001, the campaign seeks to raise $500 million in private funding by June 30, 2004, to support the goals outlined in the university's strategic plan. As of Nov. 30, $358 million in campaign donations and pledges had been received by the university.
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