June 1, 2000

Contact: Roban Johnson (912) 301-2716 or (800) 837-2911

ATLANTA —Mercer University Southern School of Pharmacy named Tiffany DeCastro Flaherty, Jacob Konrad Pirkle and Andrea Renee Hopkins as recipients of the Reuben C. Hood Award, the highest scholastic award offered by the Southern School of Pharmacy. The awards, presented during the School’s April 29 commencement in Atlanta, recognize their academic achievements. Each shared the highest grade point average in the graduating class and had been named to the Dean’s List each semester of their four years of study at the Southern School of Pharmacy.

Flaherty is the daughter of David and Mary Owen of Warner Robins. A graduate of Warner Robins High School, Flaherty attended Georgia State University and the University of Georgia, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in microbiology.

Pirkle is the son of Warner Robins residents Carol and Barbara Pirkle. He completed the pre-pharmacy curriculum at Mercer University and Brewton-Parker College in Mt. Vernon.

Hopkins is the daughter of Dennis and Linda Hopkins of Knoxville, Tenn. She graduated from Farragut High School and completed the pre-pharmacy curriculum at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Flaherty, Pirkle and Hopkins were among 113 students to graduate from Mercer’s Southern School of Pharmacy this year.

Mercer University is among the largest Baptist-affiliated institutions in the world and is the only independent university of its size in the nation that offers degree programs in liberal arts, business, engineering, education, medicine, pharmacy, law and theology.

Located on Mercer’s Cecil B. Day Campus in Atlanta, the Southern School of Pharmacy was the first institution in the Southeast and the fifth in the nation to offer the doctor of pharmacy degree as its sole professional degree.