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The School of Pharmacy had its beginnings at a North Dakota Agricultural College (NDAC) Board of Trustees meeting. According to the Sixth Biennial Report (1902), the Board acted in order to fulfill “petitions received from prominent druggists,” and voted in November 1901 to establish a school of pharmacy with the program's supervision placed under the department of chemistry.
The school offered two courses of study. The first was a “full four years' course in pharmaceutical chemistry leading to the degree of B.S.” The second was a “special two year [sic] course in practical pharmacy.” When the winter term began on January 2, 1902, the School of Pharmacy had an enrollment of five students in its different programs. Two students enrolled in the four-year course while the remaining three students selected the two-year course. It should be noted that two other students elected to do some coursework associated with the School of Pharmacy (Sixth Biennial Report, NDAC. 1902. pp. 11-12).
Six years later, in 1908, the Division of Pharmacy strengthened its program by offering a three-year program with the first year being preparatory. A winter short course was added for those who had four years of experience in drug store practice and wanted to become more familiar the theories of pharmacy and chemistry. (Ninth Biennial Report, NDAC. 1908. pp. 38-39)
In 1919, the School of Chemistry and Pharmacy divided into two separate bodies: the School of Pharmacy and the School of Chemistry and Technology. William F. Sudro, Professor of Pharmacology, began his long tenure as head of the School in 1919 until his retirement in 1955. It was at during this time that the four-year curriculum, which led to the degree of Graduate in Pharmacy, became more popular than the two-year curriculum (fourteen students graduated with the degree of Graduate in Pharmacy versus three with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy). The four-year curriculum consisted of the two-year practical pharmacy curriculum plus advanced work in pharmacy, chemistry and botany. The curriculum was design for “(1) those who contemplate[d] teaching chemistry or pharmacy; (2) those who intend[ed] making manufacturing pharmacy or chemistry their life work; (3) those who desire[d] to become identified with the food and drug regulatory work of the federal and state governments; and (4) those who wish[ed] to obtain a broader knowledge of pharmacy in order that they may render more useful service as retail pharmacists (Fifteenth Biennial Report, NDAC. August 15, 1920 . no page numbers listed).”
The creation of a separate School of Pharmacy, in 1919, ushered in a great deal of change, expansion and notoriety in the 1920s. As early as 1920 (eighteen years after its creation) the School was “registered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York ” signifying that the School ranked “among the first class institutions of its kind in the country.” In 1923 the School received another honor when it was elected to the American Conference of Pharmaceutical Faculties, an organization consisting of the nation's highly ranked pharmaceutical institutions. The beginning of the 1925-1926 academic year saw the dissolution of the two-year curriculum and the introduction of a three-year curriculum in order to meet the Conference's requirements. On February 15, 1926 the position of Head of the School of Pharmacy was changed to the Dean of the School of Pharmacy.
Over the years, the College of Pharmacy under went additional changes most notably in curriculum, programs and degrees offered. In 1960 the program adopted the five-year curriculum mandatory for all pharmacy programs in the United States. The five-year curriculum was designed to “provide a program to meet the cultural as well as the professional requirements necessary to train young people for their life work (NDSU Bulletin, 1965-1967. pp. 203.)” Thirty years later, in 1990, a six-year entry level Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD.) program was implemented. The College also now offers a two year post-baccalaureate PharmD. Program.
A major addition to the College of Pharmacy was the Associate Degree Program in Nursing. The College offered an associates degree from 1969 until 1987—the last class graduated in 1988. The associate degree was phased out in 1987 due to an agreement with Concordia College, located in Moorhead, Minnesota, in 1986. North Dakota State University (NDSU) and Concordia agreed to create a four-year baccalaureate degree program that would utilize the Tri-College University Consortium. Nursing students would be able to take classes at Concordia or NDSU in order to meet the program's requirements. However, nursing students attending North Dakota State University would receive a NDSU degree in nursing through the Tri-College consortium while Concordia nursing students would receive a Concordia degree through the Consortium (NDSU Bulletin, 1970-1972. pp. 103). As of 2004 the NDSU Nursing program was no longer associated with Tri-College University
In September of 1987, the College of Pharmacy began the Native American Pharmacy Program (NAPP) as a means of addressing the severe shortage of Native American pharmacists in the United States . The program, currently funded by the Dakota Medical Foundation of Fargo, N.D., is designed to recruit and to facilitate the entry of Native American students into the College of Pharmacy (http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/pharmacy/napp/ ).
Initiated in 1996 and reorganized in 2003, North Dakota Institute for Pharmaceutical Care “purpose is to help pharmacists improve their practice and provide them with a ready source of health and drug information and assessment skills.” (http://pharmacy.ndsu.nodak.edu/institute/index.html ).
“In September of 2002, the NDSU College of Pharmacy received a federal grant from the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT), Division of Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, to implement a state-wide telepharmacy program to save rural pharmacies from closing and to test the new telepharmacy pilot rules established by the Board of Pharmacy. In FY'2002, a total of ten North Dakota rural communities were involved in the first year of the federal OAT grant. Four central pharmacy sites in Killdeer, Watford City, Rugby, and Forman, North Dakota, were established to serve six remote telepharmacy sites in Beach, New England, New Town, Rolette, Maddock, and Gwinner, North Dakota.” (http://telepharmacy.ndsu.nodak.edu/ )
In May 2006 the State Board of Higher Education approved the name change from the College of Pharmacy to the College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Allied Sciences.
Today, “the College offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in both pharmacy and nursing. Degrees offered by the College include: (a.) six year entry level doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.); (b.) two year post-baccalaureate Pharm.D.; (c.) BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in pharmaceutical sciences; and (d.) BS, MS, and doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degrees in nursing. In addition, the College also has preprofessional programs in allied health including respiratory care, clinical laboratory sciences, and radiological sciences.” (http://pharmacy.ndsu.nodak.edu/about/index.html - March 2007)
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