W. Renée Acosta, R.Ph., M.S.

Renee Acosta received her B.S. in pharmacy from The University of Texas at Austin in 1990. She practiced in a community pharmacy in Austin as both a staff pharmacist and pharmacy manager upon graduation. In 1996, she returned to graduate school to pursue her M.S. degree in pharmacy through the Option II Program at UT Austin.

In 1998, she became the founding program coordinator and full-time faculty member for the Pharmacy Technician Program at Austin Community College. At ACC, she developed and maintained the Pharmacy Technician Program curriculum, which included traditional classroom, laboratory, experiential and distance learning classes.

She joined the College of Pharmacy as a clinical assistant professor in 2003, where she was an alternate facilitator for pharmacotherapeutics lab and guest lecturer for hospital pharmacy. In June 2005 she joined the pharmacy practice faculty full-time. She currently coordinates and teaches the over-the-counter medication course sequence in the professional pharmacy degree program: Nonprescription Pharmacotherapeutics and Self-Care I and II (lectures and IPPE).  She also teaches in the Pharmacy Practice Lab, facilitates in Foundations for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (FICP), and mentors students in Foundations for Professional Development and FICP. In addition to her teaching in the college, she teaches an Undergraduate Studies’ Signature Course titled “Self-Care and OTC Products”.

She served the college as Assistant Dean of Admissions and Advising from fall 2015 until fall 2017. In this role, she was responsible for coordinating and conducting recruiting, admissions and advising activities for the college. Since fall 2017, she has served the college as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In this role, she provides leadership for and coordination of the Pharm.D. program.

She is active in local, state and national organizations. She is a member of the American Pharmacists Association, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Texas Pharmacy Association, Austin Area Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Capital Area Pharmacist Association, and American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Her areas of interest include over-the-counter products, student assessment and success, and innovative teaching methods.