Donna West Strum

In 2022, Strum officially became Dean of the School of Pharmacy and interim executive director of the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Strum received three degrees from the university, including a Doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences with an emphasis in pharmacy administration in 1999. After eight years on the faculty for the College of Pharmacy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, she returned to the university in 2008 as chair and professor in the Department of Pharmacy Administration.

In 2017, she was appointed to her role in the Office of the Provost where she oversees a wide variety of faculty, student and administrative matters such as academic budget, student retention and human resource issues.

During her stint as pharmacy administration chair, she assisted in restructuring the graduate curriculum, as well as helping the department win the university’s Excellence in Promoting Inclusiveness in Graduate Education award.

She was recognized with the 2015 Duncan Neuhauser Award from the Academy for Healthcare Improvement and the school’s 2016 Faculty Instructional Innovations Award for her role in creating and implementing the teaching tool Educating Pharmacists in Quality, or EPIQ. The resource trains pharmacists and student pharmacists to measure and improve quality in pharmacy care.