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Volume 71, Issue 90,
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
News Texas senator speaks today Van de Putte's speech part of James T. McCarthy series COUGAR NEWS STAFF Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, a pharmacist for more than 26 years, will speak at 11:45 a.m. today at the Cullen Performance Hall as part of the James T. McCarthy Leadership Lecture Series. The lecture is open to the public. The event is sponsored by the UH College of Pharmacy and the Upsilon Chapter of Phi Lamda Sigma, the national honorary pharmacy leadership society. Shara Zapotek, dean of the College of Pharmacy, said the lecture will help students become leaders. "(The purpose) is to bring in experts to model pharmacy leaders for the student," Zapotek said. The college hosts one installment of the McCarthy Lecture Series every spring as well as a fall series by a different name, Zapotek said. Van de Putte is currently serving her third term as a Texas state senator for District 26 and is the chair of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus. She is the former president of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and became the chair of the Senate Hispanic Caucus in 2002. Van de Putte will present a gavel that she donated to the Texas Pharmacy Association convention to the pharmacy leadership society's Upsilon chapter following her lecture about leadership. The gavel was acquired by UH pharmacy students after it was used in the Texas Senate. "I am honored to serve as keynote speaker of the University of Houston's James T. McCarty Leadership Lecture Series," Van de Putte said in a release. "Tomorrow's leaders are on university campuses today, and I am excited about the opportunity to come before them. Students often feel as if they are moving targets of lawmakers, but in my lecture I want to emphasize the importance of students being on-target when it comes to public policy. Students need to stay involved in policymaking, and in turn policymakers will be held accountable to students' higher education needs," Van de Putte said. Zapotek said Van de Putte was chosen because she is a pharmacist working in government. "We want to bridge the gap on what leadership means," Zapotek said. "(Members of) our pharmacy leadership society are the ones who come up with suggestions. Our students are the ones who actually make the decisions of who's invited." James T. McCarty is a retired UH professor and alumnus. McCarty serves as an adjunct assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the College of Pharmacy. "(McCarty) epitomized both professionalism and leadership, so we named it after him," Zapotek said. "Four of the presidents of the national group of Phi Lambda Sigma over the past 20 years have been from UH, and he was the first one." McCarthy has many professional affiliations besides PLS, of which he was president in 1992, including American Mensa and the Rho Chi National Honor Society. He is also the recipient of honors including the Texas Pharmacist of the Year Award, the Albert Rosica Jr. Memorial Award by the American College of Apothecaries, Harris County Pharmacist of the Year and the UH College of Pharmacy Distinguished Alumni Award. "I'm looking forward to having Leticia as the speaker," McCarthy said in a release. "We have worked together in the past, and she is an incredibly effective pharmacist. This is a very appropriate time for her to address the students because of her intimate knowledge of pharmacy practice and politics in Texas." -- With additional reporting by Katie Hamarich Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
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