Alumni Resources
E. Blanche Sommers Endowment in the College of Pharmacy
In 1942, just after World War II started, Dean D.B.R. Johnson was having difficulty finding faculty for the College of Pharmacy because of the war. He found a drug store owner in Edmond, Oklahoma, who not only had a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, but also held the Master of Science degree--Blanche Sommers. Dean Johnson offered Dr. Sommers a faculty position and she accepted. As Sommers later said, "I was ready for a change again and thought I'd teach for a year to see what it was like." She was a member of the faculty of the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy for the next thirty-seven years.
Dr. Sommers earned the B.S. in Pharmacy in 1930 and the M.S. in 1931 from the University of Oklahoma. In 1954,she earned a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.
In 1962, Dean Clark retired and the University President, Dr. George Cross, appointed Dr. Sommers as Acting Dean until a new dean could be found. She served as Acting Dean in 1962-1963, returning to teaching when Loyd Harris became dean. In 1971, she was appointed Assistant Dean of the College of Pharmacy and served in that capacity until she retired in 1978.
In 1977, Dr. Sommers was named a David Ross Boyd Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Oklahoma.
A scholarship was established in her honor to support an outstanding graduate student in Pharmaceutical Sciences. The University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy Alumni Assoication has also honored Dr. Sommers by establishing an alumni award in her name.
Excerpted in part from: Centennial,
A History of The University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy 1893-1993