Russell Melchert, dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy, is one of Ingram magazine’s 2017 Icons of Education.

Melchert came to UMKC in 2010 as the dean after serving as department chair of pharmacy sciences in the college of pharmacy at the University of Arkansas. At UMKC, he’s expanding the School of Pharmacy’s reach in Missouri through UMKC programs at the University of Missouri in Columbia and Missouri State University in Springfield.

“We’re now one program with three sites, which creates increased accessibility of pharmacy education to students all over Missouri,” Melchert said in the February issue of the magazine. “We’re trying to get more—all health professions would say the same thing, but there’s a real shortage of health professionals in more rural parts of the country, especially rural Missouri.”

The thought behind the sites in Columbia and Springfield are that students will stay closer to home to practice pharmacy. With only the Kansas City campus option, students most often preferred to stay in the metropolitan area after graduation.

Ingram’s launched the Icons of Education program in 2009, recognizing the career contributions of administrators, professors, academic researchers and teachers.