John Rovers, Professor of Pharmacy Practice

So you were born in Canada—do you have dual citizenship?

“I’m on my third green card, I can’t quite pull the trigger on taking out American citizenship. I travel so much to different countries, I just find it amusing that information, money, and merchandise can cross borders with a mouse click, and you and I have to stand in lines and convince people to let us in.”

What are the biggest differences between Canada and the U.S.?

“I think that the concept of a compact is probably more in tune with Canadian mentality than American mentality. You know this is still a place where independence and taking responsibility for your own issues is so ingrained in the culture. And it’s not that Canadians think other people should solve their problems, but it’s more like a ‘we’re in this together’ kind of mindset rather than ‘my problems are my problems and your problems are your problems.’ You almost have to live in both places to get a sense for how that works.”

You’ve been at Drake for more than 20 years—what’s made you stay?

“The relationship Drake faculty have with students—I’ve not seen that in other places. I’ll say it this way: We have a fundraiser every year where faculty will donate things to be auctioned off for charity. My donation is that I’ll come to your house and cook for four; people have paid up to $200 to have me come and cook. When I was student, I would have paid $200 to never have to look at my professor again. I just haven’t seen that faculty-student relationship anywhere else.”