Co-Curriculum

The Co-Curriculum: Student Personal and Professional Development

“Gaining More When Actively Involved”

Purpose

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards 2025 require that professional pharmacy degree programs include co-curricular activities (CCAs) to ‘complement and advance the learning that occurs within the formal didactic and experiential curriculum’. The educational outcomes 2022 from the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) highlight key competencies across several domains:

• Domain 2 “Skills” emphasizes problem-solving Process, innovation, communication, cultural and structural humility, advocacy, Interprofessional collaboration, population health and wellness, and leadership.
• Domain 3 “Attitude” emphasizes self-awareness and professionalism.

Objectives

LAU’s School of Pharmacy co-curriculum allows pharmacy students to participate in self-directed lifelong learning through personal and professional development activities that are aimed to enhance students’ knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes and shape their professional identity, to become well-rounded practitioners. In collaboration with several school and university offices, as well as student societies, a diverse pool of CCAs is specifically designed to develop and advance pharmacy students’ skills and attitudes in the following areas:

1. Problem-Solving (Problem Solver) – Identify and define the primary problem, use an innovative mindset to consider and develop alternative ideas, explore multiple solutions, anticipate positive and negative outcomes, and implement the most viable solution (CAPE 2.1).
2. Communication (Communicator) – Actively engage, listen, communicate verbally, nonverbally and in writing when interacting with or educating an individual, group, or organization (CAPE 2.2).
3. Cultural and structural humility (Ally) – Mitigate health disparities by considering, recognizing and navigating cultural and structural factors to improve access and health outcomes (CAPE 2.3).
4. Advocacy (Advocate) – Promote the best interests of patients and or the pharmacy profession (CAPE 2.5).
5. Interprofessional collaboration (Collaborator) – Actively engage and contribute as healthcare team members by demonstrating core interprofessional competencies (CAPE 2.7).
6. Population Health & Wellness (promoter) – Access factors that influence the health and wellness of a population and develop strategies to address those factors (CAPE 2.8).
7. Leadership (Leader) – Demonstrate the ability to influence and support the achievement of shared goals on a team, regardless of one’s role (CAPE 2.9).
8. Self-awareness (Self-aware) – Examine, reflect on, and address personal and professional attributes (knowledge, skills, abilities, beliefs, that could enhance or limit growth, development, and professional identity formation) (CAPE 3.1).
9. Professionalism (Professional) – Exhibit attitudes and behaviors that embody a commitment to building and maintaining trust with patients, colleagues, other healthcare professionals and society (CAPE 3.2).

Co-Curricular Activities

CCAs are typically conducted outside the classroom setting and encompass learning outcomes that take time to gain through multiple experiences and exposures in order to hone and attain mastery. They range from self-development workshops to hands-on service learning and community outreach projects. View the CCAs contracted sheet (for students | for faculty and staff).

The co-curriculum program consists of required and optional CCAs. CCAs allocated to each professional year address specific themes of development:

Student Portfolio

Each student’s professional experiences are documented in individual electronic portfolios (Portfolio guide). These are reflected upon by the student and reviewed with feedback by the CCA coordinator. At the end of each academic year, the portfolio reports are assessed to identify areas for improvement or changes, ensuring that the program continues to meet educational goals and enhance student development and well-being.

Co-Curriculum Management

A faculty coordinator (Dr. Aline Bou Maroun) oversees the co-curriculum with the support of an academic assistant (Mrs. Sarah El Hawa). The coordinator reports to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (Dr. Roy Kanbar). CCAs are organized in coordination with the students’ co-curricular committee, student societies, office of student affairs, office of experiential and residency programs, and school’s events and well-being committee.