Emeritus Dean Bill Campbell Returns to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy to Talk Mentoring

Bill Campbell, dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy from 1992-2003, mentored hundreds of faculty, staff, and students while at the School, but the mentoring didn’t stop when he did. 

 

Bill Campbell returned to the School on October 9 to assess the progress of the Bill and Karen Campbell Mentoring Program. While here, Campbell gave a presentation to faculty, staff, and students defining mentoring.

When Bill Campbell left the deanship at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2003, he left behind a much different School than the one he took over in 1992. During his tenure, Campbell oversaw renovations to Beard Hall, the building of Kerr Hall, the addition of the entry-level PharmD, and the expansion of the graduate programs. But perhaps his greatest legacy is that of camaraderie and mentorship among the School's faculty.

“Bill was a compulsive mentor,” says Harold Kohn, Kenan distinguished professor and director of the Bill and Karen Campbell Mentoring Program at the School. “I think everyone he came into contact with—whether he or she was faculty or staff—Bill couldn’t help but mentor.”

Campbell came to the School after a successful career as dean of the Auburn School of Pharmacy, and while here, he helped attract many faculty to our programs. One of those professors was Betsy Sleath, chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. Sleath attributes her career success to his guidance and support and is quick to point it wasn’t always what Campbell said that inspired her—it was often what he did.

“Bill puts people first,” Sleath says. “I try to give back what he gave me, and I always try to be available when other faculty members need advice.”

Bill and Karen Campbell Mentoring Program

Sleath is not the only person to learn from watching Campbell. Other faculty, staff, and even alumni saw Campbell’s ability to inspire others, and a year before Campbell was set to retire, they all began asking what they could do to honor Campbell’s legacy at the School. Campbell had an answer. “I invested a great deal of my time in mentoring young faculty and junior administrators,” Campbell says. “I wanted to formalize a mentoring program because it was so important to me.”

A committee formed, and Campbell drafted a document that later became the blueprint for the Bill and Karen Campbell Faculty Mentoring Program. Campbell structured the program to provide clear goals and metrics for both the mentees and mentors. Each mentee is given one mentor from within the School and one at Carolina, and the mentee must schedule biweekly meetings with each team member and monthly meetings with the entire team. The group must also meet yearly to assess progress toward goals and roadblocks to achieving goals. (Learn more about the program guidelines.)

Bill Campbell, former dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, discussed his approach to faculty mentoring during a talk at the School on October 9.

Through fundraising and support from alumni Campbell personally mentored while at the School, $1 million was generated to endow the program, and Kohn was named the founding director in 2006. Today, 19 junior faculty have completed or are in the process of completing the program, and more than 40 mentors from across campus have offered guidance to faculty at the School. “This program brings tremendous recognition to the School,” says Kohn, who has identified mentors in the School of Education, Kenan-Flagler Business School, School of Medicine, and more.

The program has also expanded the horizons of junior faculty. Kohn likens the mentor-mentee relationship to playing tennis with someone better than you. “Your game is improved when you play against a tough opponent,” he says. “Having that edge helps our faculty compete for scarce funding and set loftier goals.”

Campbell won’t take credit for the success of the School’s faculty. He knows our faculty are very talented people on their own, but he does think the program has been instrumental in bringing high-caliber faculty to the School and accelerating their success. “We wanted to differentiate UNC,” Campbell says. “This is something that no one else in pharmacy offers.”

Bill Campbell delivers a presentation on mentoring at the School on October 9.

Follow What Makes You Happy

Even in retirement, Campbell refuses to stop mentoring. His advice: “Follow what makes you happy. That’s the only way you’ll ever be successful. Then, of course, find someone who can help you who has been there already and can help you navigate that arena.”

In retirement, Campbell is following his own advice. After spending all of his professional life indoors, he chose to live the rest of his life outside. He and his wife moved to the Cascade Mountains in Washington, and Campbell is now a volunteer firefighter, EMT, and a Wildland Firefighter. “In any community you live in, you will find enormous needs only filled by volunteers,” Campbell says. “I looked around at our community, and I decided to do what was most pleasing to me.”

Instead of mentoring future pharmacists, now Campbell is mentoring young firefighters, and he doesn’t see it as much different than serving as dean. “I’m still putting out fires,” he says.