SPOKANE, Wash. A clinical associate professor in the College of Pharmacy at Washington State University has received the “Bill Mueller Outstanding Mentor Award” from the Washington State Pharmacy Association.
Colleen M. Terriff, a faculty member at WSU since May 1996, received the award at the WSPA’s annual meeting in November at Tulalip, Wash. The award recognizes a practicing pharmacist or pharmacy technician with at least 10 years of practice experience “who has been and continues to be an outstanding mentor in the field of pharmacy.”
Terriff was nominated by Brenda Bray, another pharmacy faculty member in the College of Pharmacy’s pharmacotherapy department at WSU Spokane. Bray said in her written nomination, “One only need spend a short time with Colleen to observe her dedication to pharmacy practice and her passion for teaching and mentoring students and residents. Colleen’s efforts with students often move outside of the typical classroom experience. Colleen is held in extremely high regard by her students. She does not just teach them. She inspires and empowers them.”
Terriff, who also practices pharmacy at Deaconess Medical Center and directs the College’s pharmacy residency program there, developed and implemented a teaching certificate program for pharmacy residents at Deaconess, Sacred Heart Medical Center, Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital and the Central Washington Hospital pharmacy residency programs in Wenatchee so they can choose to develop their teaching skills during their residency. It is one of six such programs in the country, Bray said.
“All of Colleen’s efforts are focused on making those people around her better by sharing her time, her knowledge and her energy,” Bray said. “She inspires all of us student pharmacists, practicing pharmacists, faculty and administrators to be the best we can be. Her style is to find ways to support each individual on his or her journey to excellence leading by action and example.”
Terriff is a 1996 graduate of the WSU Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) program. She received her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Iowa in 1992 and has been a licensed pharmacist in the state of Washington since that time. In addition to bioterrorism, she has interest and expertise in infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS. Terriff leads a team of College of Pharmacy faculty and students who are part of the Spokane Regional Health District’s emergency response team for public health emergencies in seven eastern Washington counties.
Bill Mueller is a past director of pharmacy services at the University of Washington Medical Center. He was known for helping pioneer development of the “Patient Care Area Pharmacist” concept, in which clinical pharmacists were placed in specific patient care units of the medical center.
