The Campus, located in Crestview, Florida, is an expansion of the FAMU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health. In 2010, the Florida Legislature approved the funds and the renovation of the Alatex building that currently houses the College in Downtown Crestview. The Durell Peaden Jr. Education Center opened its doors to learners in August 2012.
The campus was formally known as the Durell Peaden Jr. Education Center. However, in the summer of 2020, the FAMU Board of Trustees, at the recommendation of Dr. Johnnie L. Early, II, Dean of the CoPPS, IPH approved the center's renaming to the "Durell Peaden Jr. Rural Pharmacy Education Campus." The name change to this site was to honor the late legislator Durell Peaden Jr., and it also emphasizes the educational role of the campus rather than the city where it is located. The late Senator and Doctor Durell Peaden Jr. was a member of the Florida legislator from 2002 to 2010. Senator Peaden, the City of Crestview, Mayor David Cadle, the City Council, Florida A&M University, and the Florida legislators worked to obtain the funds necessary for the establishment and the recurring financial support of a college of pharmacy in Senator Peaden's hometown of Crestview, Florida.
Today, the Peaden Campus is the only college of pharmacy in Florida, located west of Tallahassee. This Campus makes it possible for learners in the Northwestern part of Florida to obtain a Doctor of Pharmacy degree without traveling too far from home.
The Peaden Campus is a distance-learning campus, and learners enrolled range from their First Professional Year (P1) through their Fourth Professional Year (P4). The maximum class size of 30 learners is expected per academic class.The primary mode of didactic instruction and interaction with professors is video conferencing. Learners are linked via synchronous distance-learning technology and receive didactic instruction simultaneously with main campus learners in real-time. Although learners enrolled at the Peaden Campus do not attend classes in Tallahassee, they still benefit from tutoring, advising, scholarships, grants, and loans afforded to a learner who attends the main campus.
Peaden Campus learners use their classroom skills to serve the Crestview community. The learners also organize one of the biggest annual community health fairs in the city to celebrate Pharmacy Week with sponsorship from local businesses. Faculty, preceptors, and learners provide free screening for hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, HIV, and vaccination in collaboration with local pharmacies and health care professionals. The campus averages 125,000 hours of community service each year.
For further information contact:
Durell Peaden Jr. Rural Education Campus:
153 W. Woodruff Avenue
Crestview, FL 32536
850-689-7871
Campus Dean and Director: Margareth Larose-Pierre, Pharm.D, RPh
Email Address: margareth.larose@famu.edu