Alumna establishes leadership scholars endowment fund
As a student at USC in the ’70s, Donna Walker was asked by South Carolina College of Pharmacy Dean Julian Fincher to represent the school at a regional conference in Memphis, Tenn. That “small request” kicked off a college career — and a lifetime — of leadership in the pharmacy industry for Walker.
“It made me aware that I was not just pursuing a degree at USC, but that I was joining a profession, and that I had a responsibility, not only to the patients I was serving, but to my colleagues and my community,” Walker said.
Now, nearly 35 years after her graduation, Walker has begun an effort to engage more pharmacy students in leadership development with a $525,000 gift to the college. The gift will be counted in the university’s $1 billion capital campaign, Carolina’s Promise.
After attending the Memphis pharmacy conference, Walker took on other leadership roles during her time as a student at USC. While being a part of many pharmacy organizations, she also served as a student senator and had an internship with former U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond.
“These are the experiences that made a difference in my life,” Walker said. “They provided the training ground for leadership in the pharmacy profession as well as my career and my philanthropic endeavors.”
After earning her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, Walker went on to earn her master’s in business administration from the Darla Moore School of Business and become a pharmaceutical sales and marketing executive.
Walker, along with university President Harris Pastides and SCCP Executive Dean Joseph DiPiro, announced the creation of the Walker Pharmacy Leadership Scholarship Endowment Fund to a standing-room-only crowd of current pharmacy students and professors Friday morning. The fund will benefit pharmacy students participating in the Carolina Leadership Initiative, a recently launched program headed by political science professor Kirk Randazzo.
Upon learning of the Carolina Leadership Initiative, Walker said she “knew immediately” she wanted to help engage pharmacy students in the program. Founded in 2010, the initiative is still developing new programs, including a minor in leadership studies. Combining this initiative with the rigorous pharmacy curriculum will create more elite graduates, DiPiro said.
“Leadership training is something that can have a huge impact, not only on students,” he said. “Through them, they impact the pharmacy industry and healthcare in general.”
The College of Pharmacy’s most recent class of graduates were “among the top in the country” in residency acceptances and placements, DiPiro said. As one of four pharmacy schools in South Carolina and one of only two public institutions, admission to the college is highly competitive — at least as competitive as admission to USC’s two medical schools — and attracts students with the potential for six-figure entry-level salaries.
“These are popular careers and these are well-paying careers. But Donna Walker knows there’s more than that,” Pastides said. “She wants to inspire not only the best prepared pharmacists in the United States of America but the pharmacists who contribute to society in many different ways as professional leaders and academic leaders and community leaders … and in so many other ways.”
Walker has deep ties to USC and South Carolina’s pharmacy industry. Her late father, Tony Walker, owned and operated a Columbia pharmacy after getting his degree from USC in 1957. Her mother and brothers also graduated from USC, and the Walker family has remained engaged with the university, even attending bowl games with Pastides.
“If there ever was a family whose bloodline ran garnet, it would be the Walker family,” Pastides said. “[Donna Walker] never really left the University of South Carolina, and she takes us with her wherever she goes.”