Eshelman School of Pharmacy: Blouin and Renewable Scholarships Policy and Procedure

Unit Policy and Procedure

Title

Eshelman School of Pharmacy: Policy on and Procedure for Blouin and Renewable Scholarships

Introduction

Purpose

The sections below outline the timeline and process for the Blouin and Renewable scholarships, from application through awarding.

Scope

This policy is for incoming and admitted PharmD students, is stewarded by the ESOP Scholarship Program Manager, and serves to guide Eshelman School of Pharmacy faculty and staff.  

Policy

The Renewable scholarships are the only scholarships that are offered to incoming students. These scholarships remain with the scholar for four years while attending the Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

The Renewable scholarships are made up of two categories:

• Blouin Scholars, and
• Renewable.

Blouin scholarships offer the scholar half up to $25,000 in-state tuition per year, up to a maximum award of $100,000. They also provide value-added activities, including a fully funded global rotation in Malawi and exclusive time with the Dean. The rest of the Renewable scholarships range from $5,000 to $12,000 per year.

Students who apply for admission by the priority deadline and are admitted before the scholarship application deadline gain access to apply for the Renewable Scholarships.

Students must remain enrolled in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, be in good disciplinary and academic standing, and fulfill all stewardship requirements for the duration of the scholarship.

Timelines

1. September 15
   • Scholarship application portal and the application should be ready
2. October 1
   • Admissions application priority deadline to receive the link for the scholarship application (the link is sent with the letter/email of admission)
3. December 1
   • Renewable and Blouin scholarships budget must be ready
4. December 3
   • Scholarship application deadline for admitted students who applied by the priority deadline
5. December 5-20
   • Scholarship application initial screening reviews
6. December 20-23
   • Narrow down the list of applicants to move on to the interview stage
   • Approval of applicants to be interviewed
7. January
   • Schedule interviews for applicants who advance to the next step in the scholarship application process
   • Conduct Zoom interviews
   • Scholarship award selections
8. January 31 - February 10
   • Email award notifications to students
   • Inform the Office of Admissions of selections
9. March 15
   • Renewal scholarship application opens for rising PY2, 3 and 4's
10. April 15
    • Admitted students matriculate into the UNC-Chapel Hill system
    • Renewal scholarship application deadline for rising PY2-PY4
11. May 15-30
    • Check in with the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) and the Office of Admissions for incoming students' UNC-Chapel Hill email addresses
    • Reconcile the renewal scholarship list with the Registrar and OSA about dual degree students and Academic Progression
    • Inform dual degree renewals via email that their scholarship will remain on hold until they return to the Eshelman School of Pharmacy
12. May 30
    • Inform incoming PY1 to update profiles with UNC-Chapel Hill email address, PID, and headshot in the online scholarship portal
13. July 1-15
    • Email official award letter to Blouin & Renewal new scholarship recipients
    • Email official award letter to existing Renewal scholarship recipients
    • Accepting the scholarship in the scholarship portal is required for all recipients
    • Provide OSA with a full list of scholarship recipients
14. August
    • Funds disbursement via Gradstar
    • Notify OSA of funds disbursement
15. August/September
    • Welcome Fall Event for Blouin Scholars!

Procedure

Process for Incoming PY1's for Blouin & Renewable Scholarships

Application

• The application and the application portal should be ready and open by Sept 15.
• The link to the portal needs to be sent to the Office of Admissions by September 15.
• Admitted students may only access these scholarships when offered Early Admission or by applying for admission by the Priority deadline in the fall. The priority deadline is October 1.
• The link to the scholarship portal is included in the pharmacy school admission email sent to admitted students by the Office of Admissions.
• All application materials are submitted via the online portal.
• Scholarship application deadline is December 3.

Review Process

• This process has two steps;
  • Committee Screening
    • When the scholarship application closes on December 3, the applications move to the committee screening step. The applications are randomly assigned to reviewers.
    • An initial screening is done by a committee that includes both external and internal reviewers, and is done through the same online system that accepted the applications
    • Each application is reviewed by at least two reviewers, one from each category
    • Review only takes place for completed and submitted applications.
    • Reviews take place within a 2-3-week window
  • Interviews
    • Interviews are extended to the highest-scoring applicants from the initial screening.
    • Interviews are scheduled to take place within the first two weeks of January
    • Each interview is conducted by a small diverse panel that could include a combination of External Affairs, UNC Pharmacy Foundation, Admissions/Student Affairs, Alumni, PharmD Program Leadership, Culture and Well-Being, and Global, as available.

Award Selections

• The selection is done by the Scholarship Program Manager.
• Awards are given based on the scores from the interviews, highest to lowest, with financial need, donor preferences, and criteria in mind.
• The complete list of award selections is sent to the Executive Vice Dean - Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer and the Foundation President, or their proxy, for final approval.
• The list of all selections is sent to the Office of Admissions as soon as it is final to help with Recruitment awards.

Notification

• The first notification to the student of the scholarship is an email. The email includes the award type and amount. This email notification is sent at the end of January.
• Students not awarded are also notified shortly after. Ideally, this happens on the same day.
• The official award letters are prepared and sent to Scholarship recipients later in July, along with all other official scholarship notifications.
• Since notifying scholarship recipients happens early in the calendar year before these students have matriculated into the UNC-Chapel Hill system, we would need to stay in touch with OSA to be notified when their UNC-Chapel Hill emails are ready.

Award Acceptance

• Once the students have received their UNC-Chapel Hill email addresses, they will receive an email from the Scholarship Program Manager to log in to the scholarship portal and update their profile by changing the contact email address to the UNC-Chapel Hill email. They will also need to add their PID to their profile.
  • They will have 2-3 weeks to do this.
• Once the student profiles have been updated, the scholarship will be assigned to the student in the system.
• The student will then need to accept their award on the scholarship portal once they have updated their profile.

Stewardship

• Stewardship of the scholarship takes place after the students have accepted their scholarship. It usually happens in late July or August.
• The students receive an email from the Stewardship department with specific instructions on what they need to do to steward their donor.
• In collaboration with the Stewardship Officer, the Scholarship Program Manager will help review the stewardship videos as they come in to ensure they are appropriate and are what we asked for.
• The Stewardship Officer will inform the Scholarship Program Manager when it is time to review the videos and provide what is needed for feedback (e.g., spreadsheet for interesting recipient facts).

Scholarship Renewal

• The Renewable and Blouin scholarships are renewed every year after their first year while the student is at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
• The students will receive an email directly from the Scholarship Program Manager providing them with a link to the scholarship portal to renew their scholarship.
• Once the renewal applications are complete, the list of students with renewable scholarships is sent to the Registrar to ensure they are in good standing. The Registrar will also confirm if the students are pursuing dual degrees (see the Eshelman School of Pharmacy's Dual Degree Policy).
  • Dual degree renewals will receive an email in May to inform them that they will not be receiving a scholarship the coming year. See the Eshelman School of Pharmacy's Dual Degree Policy.
• Once the registrar has confirmed the student statuses, the scholarships can be renewed/put on hold as necessary.
• Notifications will then be sent to students to inform them of the status of their renewal application.

Related Requirements

University Policies, Standards, and Procedures

• Gift Acceptance Policy
• Gifts Affecting the Curriculum Policy

Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures

• Dual Degree Policy
• Recognition Scholarships Policy and Procedure

Contact Information

Primary Contact

Name: Emilyn Kamya

Email: ekamya@unc.edu

Other Contacts

Email: pharmdscholarships@unc.edu