Pharmaceutical Sciences
The UNO Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Pharmaceutical Sciences is a partnership between faculty in the Chemistry department (CHEM) within the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), and the College of Pharmacy (CoP) within the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). It is intended to provide a comprehensive undergraduate education for students interested in Doctor of Pharmacy or Pharmaceutical Sciences graduate programs, or entry-level careers requiring a Bachelor of Science degree, such as sales representatives or pharmaceutical research technicians. Graduates of the program will have the sort of skills today’s workforce demands, including communication, computer competencies, and teamwork skills, and will receive targeted skills in a professional field that is changing as healthcare practices and drug delivery development evolves.
Future researchers in drug development and future pharmacists will benefit from a pharmacy education that begins at the undergraduate level. Students will receive an education that propels them into programs and entry-level positions, ready to engage with other healthcare providers in the complexities of delivering patient-centered healthcare or ready to collaborate as a medical scientist in a team-oriented work environment. The partnership between UNO and UNMC will provide students with opportunities to interact with a broader base of academic and clinical faculty and staff than is typical for undergraduate students. Undergraduates in the program will engage with Chemistry or College of Pharmacy faculty to complete programmatic research requirements.
Graduates of the pharmaceutical sciences major will also have the prerequisites for entrance into UNMC’s College of Pharmacy’s PharmD program.
Other Information
Students working toward a degree in pharmaceutical sciences must earn a grade of “C“ or better in all courses used to fulfill the major and cognate requirements. A GPA of 2.0 or higher in major and cognate courses is required to graduate with a B.S. in pharmaceutical sciences.
High school students who have successfully completed advanced high school chemistry courses (AP and/or IB) and are considering a modified course of study should consult with their advisor.
IMPORTANT OVERLAPPING RESTRICTIONS
Pharmaceutical Sciences majors:
- may not add a Chemistry minor
- may add a Chemistry major or dual degree (BA Chemistry; BS Pharmaceutical Sciences) without overlapping restrictions.
Contact Information
Department of Chemistry
DSC 337
402.554.2651
Website
Degrees Offered
Writing in the Discipline
All students are required to take a writing in the discipline course within their discipline. For the pharmaceutical sciences major, this is NSCI 3940 along with any two of the following courses: CHEM 3354, CHEM 3364, CHEM 4654, CHEM 4664, or another approved course.
The B.S. degree in pharmaceutical sciences prepares graduates for a variety of entry-level positions in the pharmaceutical and medical industry related to drug therapy, medicine production and drug delivery. These are often high wage, high demand, and high skills jobs (H3) and include some of the following:
- Sales and marketing
- Drug research and development
- Clinical research
- Quality assurance
- Pharmaceutical manufacturing
- Chemical manufacturing
- Food and beverage manufacturing
- Testing laboratories for biomedical and bioscience.
The B.S. in pharmaceutical sciences also prepares graduates interested in pursuing further professional education with the goal of providing patient care as a pharmacist (through completion of a PharmD degree), and to graduates interested in pursuing advanced education and training to become a medical research scientist through a Master of Science (M.S.) or Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree. The program also provides students who plan to enter health professional schools another option of a major in addition to the commonly selected majors, such as biology, chemistry, molecular and biomedical biology, and neuroscience.