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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) - School of Pharmacy
Sold! …to the Highest Bidder: The SIUE SSHP Faculty Auction

College Connection

by James Reimer, P2, SIUE SSHP President-Elect & Paris Smith, P2, SIUE SSHP Fundraising Chair

Two words that do not seem to go well together are “Faculty” and “Auction”, yet they continue to pave the way for numerous rewarding experiences for our students. Now it might seem at first glance that the students of SIUE are trying to sell their professors, but rest assured that is not the case. The Faculty Auction fundraiser, sponsored by the SIUE Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SSHP), is a big hit with both the students and faculty. Not only does the Faculty Auction raise money for the student chapter of ICHP, it also promotes a unique opportunity for students to interact more closely with their faculty outside of the classroom setting. On top of that, the SIUE SSHP donates 10% of the profits from the auction to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Metro Saint Louis. We are proud to announce that we raised a record-breaking amount this year!

Every spring semester, in place of a regular scheduled general meeting, our SSHP hosts a special meeting called the Faculty Auction. At this meeting, our SSHP officers bring in food to be served as a potluck during the event. This event consists of SIUE faculty donating their time and money on a wide range of experiences on which the students can bid. The auction this year included an all-day BBQ tour around St. Louis, an all-day boating adventure on the lake, and multiple opportunities to have lunch or supper with the faculty throughout the local area. Other opportunities to win a casual interaction with the faculty included a night of bowling, an NCAA Final Four watch party, a Springfield faculty backyard picnic, multiple escape room challenges, a night of theatre to watch the award-winning musical, The Book of Mormon, and a dessert of the month experience. New this year was the opportunity for faculty to submit baskets in addition or in place of an experience with them.

This event takes quite an enormous amount of planning to pull off smoothly and successfully. The task is assigned to and led by our SSHP Fundraising Chair, but is carried out through teamwork.  In this regard, our executive board members of SSHP divide and conquer by splitting up the faculty members. Each board member approaches their assigned faculty member(s) to ask them if they would like to donate an experience or a basket to the Faculty Auction. After faculty members agree to participate, we fill out forms for them that include the specific details and requirements of their auction item(s). The information from these forms are compiled into a PowerPoint document to include enticing graphics and descriptions to be displayed during the meeting. Auction items can be donated from an individual faculty member, a few faculty members, or even a large group of faculty members such as those from the Springfield area hosting a backyard picnic. Additionally, prizes can be for individual students, a few students, or a large group of students such as in all-day boating adventure. One of the truly fun aspects of the Faculty Auction is that each basket or event can be anything the faculty member thinks up. These auction items can be from a personal interest such as taking students to a concert to a hobby such as providing home cooked BBQ or desserts.

Once the auction has ended, we send out emails to the students and faculty of the winning bids. This allows the students and faculty to work out when their event will take place or when they can pick up their basket. This allows our students and faculty to get to know one another better. Students and faculty take advantage of this opportunity to discuss the curriculum, share their thoughts about our pharmacy program, and to simply network and establish relationships with each other. The Faculty Auction is an extremely popular event that not only serves to function as a means to raise funds for our organization and local charity, but also to facilitate meaningful out-of-classroom adventures and experiences between students and faculty. It is our hope here at SIUE, by sharing our experiences with other schools of pharmacy that they might adopt this fundraiser and see how much fun hanging out with your faculty can be!

“As a P1 member of SSHP last year, the Faculty Auction was one of my favorite events throughout the year and it allowed me to go to lunch with a professor and try a new cuisine. It also allowed me to ask her questions and give me advice about how to navigate through pharmacy school. It was an experience I will never forget, and I am proud to have headed the auction this year as fundraising chair and to have a record-breaking year. It allows us as students to get to know our faculty as our future colleagues and to enjoy spending time with them. I can’t wait to see what items we will get next year!” –Paris Smith, P2, SSHP Fundraising Chair