TTUHSC, UNT Pharmacy Programs Join Forces at Career Fair

• By Mark Hendricks
• November 12, 2018

Students from all four TTUHSC School of Pharmacy campuses converged on the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Oct. 15-16 for the school’s annual career fair. The pharmacy students—76 in their third year and 106 in their fourth and final year—met at the Hurst Convention Center with a group of 14 vendors to discuss career options, residency and fellowship programs, research opportunities and financial planning.

Krystal Edwards, Pharm.D., associate dean for career development for the School of Pharmacy, said students and faculty from the University of North Texas (UNT) Health Science Center College of Pharmacy also attended the first day of the career fair. It was the second year TTUHSC and UNT combined their career fairs.

“Having UNT involved offered our students a chance to interact and network with students from another school, to learn from UNT faculty and offered students a wider variety of vendors to engage with.”

In addition to the TTUHSC and UNT pharmacy programs, the list of vendors who attended the career fair included retail pharmacies CVS, Walgeen’s, Walmart, Rite-Aid, H-E-B and Tom Thumb/Albertson’s; residency and fellowship program representatives from Texas Health Resources Fort Worth, CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System, UT Southwestern, West Texas VA Health Care System, Rutgers and Novo Nordisk; Medpace, a clinical contract research organization; and financial planners from Mass Mutual.

On the first day, vendors met one-on-one with students to discuss potential career pathways. At the same time, 23 TTUHSC faculty members and residents, 24 UNT faculty members and representatives from the Rutgers Fellowship program and Mass Mutual were conducting nearly a dozen career development workshop and training sessions covering Curriculum Vitae & Letter of Intent preparation and reviews, interview skills, networking, job offers, time management, debt management, residency and fellowship preparation and mock interviews.

Edwards said the first day concluded with keynote panel discussion organized by the Texas Tech Personal Financial Planning Alumni Advisory Board and the managing director of UNT’s Student Money Management Center. The presentation was titled, “Sealing the Deal and Managing Finances.”

According to Edwards, the second day included more than 180 face-to-face interviews between pharmacy students and retail and research vendors. School of Pharmacy faculty members and Mass Mutual representatives also conducted additional career development and training sessions.