Andrew G. DuMez Memorial Lecture
Noel Wilkin, RPh, BSP ’89, PhD, ’97, FAPhA
Change Management in the Changing Landscape of Higher Education
April 23, 2025, 1-2 p.m.
Pharmacy Hall, Room N103
(RSVP by April 16)
Noel Wilkin is provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Mississippi and is professor of pharmacy administration, and research professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. Wilkin is a pharmacist, scientist, and administrator, who earned both his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
Before earning his doctorate, Wilkin was a pharmacist with Giant Pharmacy, where he served as staff pharmacist for six months and assistant manager for one and a half years. While in graduate school he worked as a staff pharmacist at Northlake Pharmacy in Germantown, Md.
Prior to becoming provost at the University of Mississippi in 2017, Wilkin was an accomplished faculty member, served in several administrative positions, including department chair, center director, and associate provost, formed a company that developed product strategies for the pharmaceutical industry, and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association. He has served the pharmacy profession as co-chair of a National Institutes of Health review panel, as editor of the Journal of Pharmacy Teaching, as reviewer to nearly a dozen journals, and as member of a Center for Advancement of Pharmaceutical Education Advisory Panel. Wilkin has been recognized for his service contributions to the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy and the university, and has received the school’s Pharmaceutical Science Teaching Award three times. Wilkin has had extensive involvement in university operations and initiatives and has worked in the Office of the Provost for more than 17 years.
The DuMez Memorial Lecture honors Andrew G. DuMez (1885-1948), who was dean of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy from 1926 to 1948. DuMez graduated from the University of Wisconsin, which conferred on him the degrees of PD in 1904, BS in 1907, MS in 1910, and PhD in 1917. He taught at the University of Wisconsin, Pacific University (Oregon), and the Northeastern Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College. In 1912, he was appointed director of the University of Philippines School of Pharmacy, where he was instrumental in revising Philippine pharmacy and drug laws.
Returning to this country, he joined the U.S. Public Health Service as a pharmacologist. While in federal service, he served on a committee to investigate narcotics traffic in the United States and was appointed the delegate from this country to the International Conference on Drug Standardization held in Belgium.
In 1926, DuMez accepted the position of dean and professor of pharmacy at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Under his administration and direction, the School continued to progress and attained a position of important leadership. He also planned and equipped a new pharmacy school building, the Pharmacy-Dental Building, which was completed in 1930.
DuMez laid the groundwork for the establishment of a graduate division, administered by the Graduate School, at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
His contributions to raising the standards of pharmaceutical education were many—including his service as an officer of the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education and president of both the American Pharmaceutical Association and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). He also served on AACP’s Executive Council for 20 years. He served on the Revision Committee of the U.S. Pharmacopeia for nearly three decades and was its vice chairman for 10 years.
DuMez’s eminent contributions and service earned him the highest national pharmacy award, the Remington Honor Medal from the American Pharmacists Association, in 1948.