BIG RAPIDS — Phil and Jocelyn Hagerman and the Hagerman Foundation have donated $5 million to Ferris State University’s College of Pharmacy, the largest single gift in the university’s history.
Hagerman is chairman and CEO of Flint-based Diplomat Pharmacy Inc., the nation’s largest independently owned specialty pharmacy.
“This is a symbol of our commitment to education and our commitment to Ferris,” Hagerman said. “We want to make sure that the pharmacy industry recognizes what an important part Ferris has been in my personal success, my family’s success and in the growth of our company, Diplomat. For myself and my wife, Jocelyn, one of the most rewarding parts of the gift is to support youth. We believe in the pharmacy profession and we believe in students. One of the goals, for Jocelyn, I and the Hagerman Foundation, is to support education.”
Said Ferris president David Eisler: “This is an extraordinary moment in Ferris State University’s history. As a university community, we are all very grateful to Phil and Jocelyn Hagerman, and the Hagerman Foundation, for this wonderful investment in Ferris’ College of Pharmacy, our faculty, staff and most importantly, our students. For years to come, our entire pharmacy community will enjoy the opportunity to learn and work in the Hagerman Pharmacy Building.”
The Hagerman gift will support:
* A renovation project that will create state-of-the-art facilities for the College
of Pharmacy, and the college’s upgraded building will be called the
Hagerman Pharmacy Building.
* Scholarships that will strengthen access to a high-quality pharmacy education
at Ferris. Specifically, the gift will fund the Hagerman Family Endowed
Scholarship in Pharmacy and the Hagerman Family Pharmacy Scholarship
Fund.
* The creation of the Hagerman Endowed Chair for Medical Informatics.
“As Diplomat becomes more and more innovative and the pharmacy industry continues to move into areas of informatics and analytics, I think we’ve come to recognize that academia needs to stay on that cutting edge,” Hagerman said. “By making our contribution and partnering with Ferris, we can create that same kind of innovative pathway for Ferris that Diplomat has been on and in turn, one can fuel the other.”
Stephen Durst, dean of the College of Pharmacy, said the gift was important to the goals of strengthening student access to a quality pharmacy education and long-range facility improvements.
“Through this leadership-level gift to the College of Pharmacy, Phil and Jocelyn Hagerman will be enhancing opportunities for students with the introduction of a transformative scholarship program, expanding curricular options through support of program development and ensuring students are educated in state-of-the-art facilities,” Durst said.
Added Hagerman: “My father, when he got out of the service, was excited about being in some form of the medical profession, and he picked pharmacy and started at Ferris. “Through his entire time at Ferris, all of his stories were exciting and positive and it launched a career for him, and set me, my older sister and my eldest daughter on that same path.”
Through three generations of pharmacy graduates, the Hagerman family has enriched the 122-year history of pharmacy at Ferris State University. The Hagerman tradition started with Phil’s father, Dale, a 1951 graduate of the College of Pharmacy. Phil’s sister, Deborah (Hagerman) Ward, is a 1974 alumna. Phil graduated in 1975 and Phil’s daughter, Jennifer, graduated in 2003.
Ferris State’s College of Pharmacy was founded in 1894 and currently has an enrollment of 574. More than 6,000 graduates are practicing pharmacy today. More than half of all pharmacists in Michigan are Ferris State alumni.
Ferris State is a public university with campuses in Big Rapids, Grand Rapids and satellite campuses across the state of Michigan. Ferris offers more than 180 educational programs, including doctorates, master’s, bachelor’s and associate degrees, through eight academic colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Services, Engineering Technology, Health Professions, Kendall College of Art and Design, Michigan College of Optometry and Pharmacy. More at www.ferris.edu.
More about Diplomat Pharmacy at www.diplomat.is.