CURRICULAR JOINT VENTURE : A MODEL FOR MEETING COMMUNITY AND EDUCATIONAL DEMANDS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the inception, development, and implementation of a unique curricular joint venture, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill)/Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) Partnership Program and to determine the value of this new program model. The research questions focused on: (a) what was implemented to address both the pharmacist shortage/imbalance in North Carolina and the demands to accommodate an increased student population more representative of the general population, (b) consequences and reasons why implementation occurred as it did utilizing hybrid video teleconferencing (VTC) distance education, and (c) what worked. Finally, it was important to make connections between elements that drove education policy implementation (Dumas & Anyon, 2006; Honig, 2006) while considering factors of diffusion and adoption (Rogers, 2003). This intrinsic case study followed a pre-structure case outline during analysis that was aligned with the case study's original conceptual framework and covered the time period from 2002 to the spring of 2006. Multiple data collection methods were applied to provide a rich and comprehensive description.