Longest-serving University of Iowa dean to retire after 17 years

IOWA CITY — The University of Iowa’s longest-serving dean at present is retiring after 17 years — signaling an end of an era for the UI College of Pharmacy.

Dean Donald E. Letendre will step down next summer, aiming to continue leading the nationally-ranked college until his successor is hired. Even then, Letendre won’t go far — intending to stay on the faculty as a professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science “to pursue scholarly work,” according to the UI Office of Strategic Communication.

“The past 17 years as dean have been special,” Letendre said in a statement. “Serving as dean of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy truly has been a privilege and an honor. I’m extremely confident that the college — with extraordinarily dedicated faculty, staff, and students — will keep moving on an upward trajectory.”

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Letendre, whose current salary is $385,500 a year, is the most senior currently-serving UI dean by a wide margin — with 10 of the other 12 beginning their respective leadership stints in the last five years. The other two began as UI dean six and seven years ago, respectively.

Letendre started his tenure as UI College of Pharmacy dean in 2007. He arrived from his prior appointment as dean and professor at the University of Rhode Island, where he also served as executive secretary of the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory Commission.

Throughout his time at the UI, Letendre advocated for updated facilities — almost immediately pushing for a new building. He paused his advocacy following the 2008 flood that devastated the campus, imposing $230 million in flood-related damage and cleanup costs on 20 major UI buildings.

But Letendre resumed his call for better facilities two years later in 2010, when the Board of Regents included in their long-term facilities plan a UI pharmacy building “renovation” with $1 million of state support.

In driving for support across the state, Letendre visited 96 of Iowa’s 99 counties — meeting with legislators and community pharmacists. Lawmakers eventually agreed to appropriate $70 million toward a new facility, which Letendre touted as “the largest single appropriation for an educational facility in the state’s history.”

The campus’ new 228,371-square-foot $96.3 million, seven-story pharmacy building debuted in 2020 — allowing the college to shift out of its 150,000-square-foot, nearly 60-year-old space.

“Letendre achieved substantial transformative changes in the college and beyond,” according to the university’s retirement announcement Monday. “Most notable among these was advocating, planning, and overseeing construction of the new College of Pharmacy building.”

Today, the building is considered “one of the premiere facilities in the nation, boasting a student-first focus centered on active learning, technologically advanced classrooms, and ample space for informal learning and social engagement.”

During his time as dean, Letendre championed entrepreneurship and innovation — creating a framework to start UI Pharmaceuticals, facilitating collaboration across academia, biotech and government to “advance patient access to new therapies and to support pharmaceutical educational initiatives.”

By incorporating the former UI Pharmaceutical Services and Center for Advanced Drug Development units, UI Pharmaceuticals became “the world’s only drug manufacturing facility housed in a College of Pharmacy.”

“UI Pharmaceuticals is the largest and most experienced university-affiliated FDA-registered pharmaceutical manufacturing company in the U.S.,” according to the university.

“On behalf of the entire university community, I would like to thank Dean Letendre for his many years of dedication and service to the College of Pharmacy,” UI Provost Kevin Kregel said in a statement. “His leadership in opening the state-of-the-art College of Pharmacy Building was invaluable to the university and positions the college for new, exciting opportunities in the future.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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