I am excited to announce that Interim Dean Renae Chesnut has been appointed Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, effective immediately.  I want to extend my deep gratitude to search committee chair Professor Craige Wrenn and the committee of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and other stakeholders who conducted a national search that resulted in Dean Chesnut’s selection.

Renae Chesnut earned all of her degrees—Pharmacy B.S, M.B.A., and Ed.D.—from Drake University.  Prior to joining the College of Pharmacy in 1993, she worked at Eli Lilly.  She holds the rank of Professor of Pharmacy and has held a variety of administrative positions in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences:  director of student services, assistant dean of student affairs, and, from 2004 to 2015, associate dean. She was named interim dean last May, following Dean Wendy Duncan’s departure to become vice president and provost at California Health Sciences University.   She has been recognized as the CPHS Mentor of the Year twice, received the Don V. Adams Spirit of Drake Award in 2009, and in 2014 was the recipient of the national Vanguard Leadership Award from Lambda Kappa Sigma.  She has served three times as an at-large faculty senator, and has been the NCAA faculty athletics representative to the Missouri Valley Conference since 2000, serving as president of the Missouri Valley Conference twice. She is also past president of he Iowa Pharmacy Association.  

Thus, she brings to the position of dean rich knowledge of her college and the University, an extensive range of experience, a broad network of contacts with alumni and health professionals, and a near inexhaustible energy for and commitment to innovate and collaborate in order to accelerate and celebrate the success of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Drake University.

—Provost Joe Lenz