May 4, 2018

In a colder than usual day for April in Michigan, eight members of the class of 1968 returned to campus to mark 50 years since they received their degrees from the College of Pharmacy.  Robed in academic regalia, the emeriti alumni were center stage participating in the commencement ceremonies with the 2018 graduating PharmD class. 

“The College is proud to boast of an influential network of loyal alumni whose ingenuity and passion for excellence has made a Michigan Pharmacy degree synonymous with professional and scientific achievement of the highest order,” remarked Dean James T. Dalton.


Before the graduation festivities at Rackham, family, friends, and faculty gathered at the Michigan League for a luncheon and small ceremony inducting the members of the Class of 1968 into the University of Michigan Emeritus Alumni Club. Participants came as far away as Florida and California. Dr. Barima Opong-Owusu, chair of the Alumni Board of Governors presented each with a Michigan emeritus pin and certificate: Gary Barber, Dale Johnson, James Lumbard, Fred Schmid, Thomas Scott, Margaret E. Shafii, Patricia Williams, and John Zemke.  Many of the alumni pursued careers in community and hospital pharmacy, but all agreed that the education they received at Michigan helped guide them on their own unique paths.  All of them now retired, they can look back at a half-century of service to their patients and to advancing the profession of pharmacy.

The College is looking forward to 2068 when it welcomes back the Class of 2018 for its emeritus reunion.