Carly MurphyChapman University announces the appointment of Rennolds Ostrom as the Dean of the School of Pharmacy, effective March 5, 2024.
Ostrom has served as interim dean of the School of Pharmacy since June 2022. He steered the school through a challenging enrollment environment, prepared for its accrediting review and formed a diversity, equity and inclusion task force, Chapman Provost Norma Bouchard said.
“I am humbled and honored to be selected to lead the School of Pharmacy,” Ostrom said. “The rapid upward trajectory of CUSP in both research and overall rankings of U.S. schools of pharmacy makes this an exciting place to be a faculty member, staff or student. I look forward to continuing our rise and playing a central role in the growth of Chapman University.”
Ostrom has more than 160 peer-reviewed articles and published abstracts to his credit, and he has received more than $6 million in funding for his research in therapeutics, cell physiology and molecular pharmacology. In 2023, he and his collaborators were awarded more than $2.2 million in R01 funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to develop new drugs for people with asthma.
“Dr. Ostrom is a skilled educator, an accomplished researcher and an effective administrator who embraces the philosophy of servant leadership,” Bouchard said. “He is fully committed to empowering each person on the team and looks forward to working with faculty, staff, students and fellow administrators.”
Ostrom joined Chapman in 2016 and has served as interim associate dean of assessment and accreditation for the School of Pharmacy, faculty fellow for the Office of Research and on the Faculty Personnel Council. He has mentored undergraduate student researchers, postdoctoral fellows and major advisors to MS and Ph.D. students.
He serves on several professional editorial boards and is a frequent journal reviewer. He is a grant submission reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Assn. and National Science Foundation. He has been invited to speak around the U.S. and abroad.
He earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of California, Irvine and was a postdoctoral fellow and research faculty member at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He then joined the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, becoming a professor and then director of the Integrated Biomedical Sciences Program.
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About Chapman University
Founded in 1861, Chapman University is a nationally ranked private university in Orange, California, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles. Chapman serves nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, with a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Students can choose from 123 areas of study within 11 colleges for a personalized education. Chapman is categorized by the Carnegie Classification as an R2 “high research activity” institution. Students at Chapman learn directly from distinguished world-class faculty including Nobel Prize winners, MacArthur fellows, published authors and Academy Award winners. The campus has produced a Rhodes Scholar, been named a top producer of Fulbright Scholars and hosts a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society. Chapman also includes the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine. The university features the No. 4 film school and No. 60 business school in the U.S. Learn more about Chapman University: www.chapman.edu.
