A Holiday Message from Dean Sam Poloyac

December 4, 2020

View a special video holiday message from Dean Samuel M. Poloyac.

Greetings Longhorn Pharmacy Community,

Here we are, nearly at the end of our first full semester under virtual learning during the COVID pandemic. I hope your Thanksgiving was restful, healthy, and safe, and you’ve had an opportunity to recharge your batteries as we come in to the final few days of our virtual learning environment to end the term.

Thanks to all of you—Pharm.D. students, graduate students, postdocs, preceptors, faculty, alumni, and friends—for making this semester as safe and productive as possible. We’re all learning in an environment that’s unique to all of us and different from anything we’ve experienced before. We’re learning best practices in education. We’re learning about ways and opportunities to be the most effective educators and the most effective students that we can to progress you toward your educational goals.

As we move through this term, I’ve been so proud to see all the effort and work each of our students has done. Staying on the computer, studying, virtual groups, breakout sessions, and studying after hours in order to learn the content that you'll need as a professional. Our faculty, for coming up with the unique ways to educate our students as we move throughout the term. And for everyone who has put so much effort, perseverance, and fortitude into making a successful semester.

Throughout the break, I encourage you to maintain your virtual contacts—with your friends, family, colleagues, and coworkers—by sending a text, sending a Zoom message (if you haven’t had enough Zoom already), or sending just a general whatever on your preferred social media platform, so we can engage as much as possible in a safe and virtual way.

As we move into the spring term, we’re going to be in the same hybrid teaching approach. We’re taking our best practices and improving upon them. And we’re listening to our students so we come up with the best ways that we can all work together.

It has been a long road so far, and we still have a long road ahead of us. However, the perseverance that our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends have demonstrated over this past term is hopeful for our future.

I encourage everyone to stay positive, stay safe, and do your best to help each other as we move forward.

I wish everyone at the UT College of Pharmacy the happiest of holidays. Please enjoy your break, come back to a hopeful new year, and Hook ‘em Horns!

Samuel Poloyac Signature

Samuel M. Poloyac, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Dean
The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy