For nearly two years, Dr. Larry Calhoun stood in the trenches, battling to bring a pharmacy school to East Tennessee State University. But it never occurred to him that he would become the school’s founding dean.
“It never entered my mind to apply for the role,” said Calhoun, who will leave his position as CEO of Wilson Pharmacy and Home Health to assume the deanship of the ETSU College of Pharmacy on Oct. 1.
But as encouragement from the various sectors of the local health care community poured in, Calhoun became convinced he had something the school needed, namely a strong background in the dollars-and-sense aspects of health care – skills that will prove vital to the survival of a school whose financial resources are limited to tuition and community donations, instead of state funds.
Calhoun, who was chosen for the position last week, has served as president and CEO of Unicoi County Memorial Hospital and was vice president at Mountain States Health Alliance. In addition, he has worked on the faculty of the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy and in the Middle East helping to structure pharmaceutical systems for an oil company.
Calhoun grew up in Hampton, Tenn., and graduated from Hampton High School. He received his pre-pharmacy education at ETSU in the late 1960’s and graduated with a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy in 1973.
Dr. Ronald Franks, vice president of health affairs and dean of the James H. Quillen College of Medicine, headed up the extensive national search for a dean, and said Calhoun’s background in business and education was just what the committee was looking for.
“Larry is a brilliant businessman who has demonstrated a keenness for strategic planning and a passion for the pharmacy school,” Franks said in a press release last week. “We have been seeking an individual whose role would be more than just an academic dean.”
The position will include recruiting administrative officials, faculty, staff and students, finalizing the curriculum and leading the accreditation approval process, Franks said.
Add to those duties the responsibility of making sure the public continues to support the school, Calhoun said.
“[This position] has a tremendous regional public relations focus,” he said. “There are 800 people and companies who have donated to the college of pharmacy. It belongs to the region.”
As a native East Tennessean, Calhoun is also pleased he can give back to his community.
“I grew up here, and there’s no better place in the world to live and raise kids,” he said.
Calhoun and his wife Kathy, a teacher at Woodlawn Elementary and ETSU alumnus, have two children, Whitney and McKenzie.
Whitney recently graduated from ETSU, and McKenzie is a sophomore at the school.
“I’m excited about this,” said Calhoun, who hopes the school will be recognized nationally as a leader in education and graduating pharmacists who are ready to practice in all aspects of the rural pharmaceutical field.
“Not many people get to in on the ground floor of something so lasting and so critical to the profession and to ETSU,” he said.
“I’ve taken this role, and I hope there’s no end point.

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