April 17, 2002
Jamaica, NY - St. John's University has announced the creation of the St. John's Institute for Biotechnology, a unique partnership between St. John's College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, and St. John's College, the University's Liberal Arts and Sciences division. The purpose of the Institute for Biotechnology is to establish partnerships between with the science faculty of St. John's University and the regional biotechnology industry that will be of mutual benefit and train students for careers in this exciting field.
The first goal of the Institute is to organize a M.S. in Biotechnology degree program." We are very excited to be able to begin to offer the kind of degree programs which are more and more in demand in today's job market," said Dr. Diana Bartelt, Director of the Institute. "This partnership between two St. John's colleges - a first for this university, will continue to grow and offer other certificate and degree programs in the future. St. John's is currently in the process of formulating a M.S. in Biotechnology program and is seeking input from the industry so that our graduates will be well trained in the relevant technologies. We are happy to announce that the St. John's University Institute for Biotechnology has just been awarded funding from the Council of Graduate Schools to support the formation of this degree program."
As part of the launch of this program, the Institute hosted an inaugural dinner event and forum entitled "Forging Partnerships in Biotechnology between Industry and Academe - a dialogue" on Friday, April 12, 2002 from 6 p.m. in Council Hall on the Queens campus. Dr. Clinton Rubin, Director of the Center for Biotechnology at SUNY Stony Brook, delivered the keynote address. Scientists, member of Human Resource departments from industry, and research and government labs, as well as faculty from St. John's and surrounding colleges, attended.
For more information, please contact Jody Fisher, Director of Media Relations, at 718-990-6185 or at fisherjo@stjohns.edu.