Dean Rosalie Sagraves Student Travel Fund
Introduction
When she was 10, Rosalie Sagraves decided she wanted to play the trombone. “I wanted to pick out an instrument that girls typically didn't play. I always had this vision of doing things that were not quite in line with what people expected,” she recalls.
Sagraves continued to defy expectations when she decided to become a pharmacist in the 1960s. “It was a time when women were primarily either going to be teachers or nurses. I wanted to do something different,” she says.
That renegade spirit eventually led Sagraves to become the first female dean of what is now the Retzky College of Pharmacy at UIC. She served as dean from 1995 to 2006, professor of pharmacy practice from 1995 to 2008, and co-director of the Department of Health and Human Services Center of Excellence in Women's Health from 1998 to 2007.
"Dr. Sagraves was a pioneer. She was the first—and so far, the only—woman to serve as dean of pharmacy at UIC,” says the college’s current dean, Glen Schumock. “She was just the sixth woman to serve as dean at any school of pharmacy in the U.S., and the first at a major school.”
Despite her groundbreaking role, Sagraves says she didn’t feel extra pressure when she arrived on campus. She says UIC had several women in leadership positions, so it seemed normal. “UIC was a forerunner,” she says.
Before arriving in Chicago, Sagraves was on faculty at the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy. From 1985 to 1995, her various roles there included professor, assistant dean, associate department head and associate professor, and clinical pharmacist at the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital. From 1978 to 1985, Sagraves was an associate professor and assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy and a clinical pharmacist in pediatrics at Brackenridge Hospital, a university-affiliated hospital that has since closed. Prior to that, she worked for several years as a clinical pharmacist at The Ohio State University (OSU) Hospitals and was a clinical instructor at the OSU College of Pharmacy. She earned her BS in Pharmacy at OSU and later her PharmD at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences, now the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at St. Joseph’s University.
Sagraves says her success was partially due to a terrific support system, including her husband of 33 years, Arthur “Art” Kameshka, who died in 2018. A hospital and community pharmacist, Kameshka encouraged Sagraves to pursue professional opportunities, even when that meant moving to a new state. “I couldn’t have done it without him,” she says.
To support UIC’s PharmD students in their pursuit of success, Sagraves has made annual gifts and donated $25,000 to endow the Dean Rosalie Sagraves Student Travel Fund. She is donating another $25,000 to bring the fund’s total to $50,000. Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, annual distributions from the endowed fund will be awarded to PharmD students to help pay for attendance and travel to professional conferences, meetings, and other career development opportunities.
Sagraves says such experiences can be a turning point for students. “Making a poster presentation at a national meeting or hearing an internationally recognized lecturer can have a significant impact on a student’s trajectory,” she says. “Those experiences can help open a student’s eyes to different career paths within pharmacy, and they are the type of out-of-the-ordinary events a student is most likely to remember years after graduation.”
Sagraves’ fund adds to a broader effort at Retzky College to support students who want to attend professional development events. During the 2025-26 school year, the college awarded $27,872 in travel grants from various funds to 49 students. Most award recipients were P4 students who traveled to professional conferences to present research or explore and interview for residency and fellowship programs. One student represented UIC at a meeting of a national pharmacy student organization.
“These experiences empower students to expand their knowledge beyond the classroom, start building meaningful professional networks, strengthen communication skills, and gain the confidence needed for long-term career success,” says Deb Fox, director of Career Services and Student Engagement for UIC Student Affairs.
Sagraves remembers attending her first American Pharmacists Association (APhA) annual meeting in San Francisco when she was a clinical pharmacist with OSU Hospitals. “It was great to interact with pharmacists from across the U.S. I even got to meet international pharmacists. It was wonderful to hear about new innovations in hospital pharmacy, the beginnings of clinical pharmacy, leadership, and new medications,” she says.
These days, Sagraves travels for fun and to maintain connections. She takes annual trips, one with high school friends and another with women who retired after serving as deans of pharmacy. “We started off as just three retired deans, taking a few extra days after a national meeting to explore Chicago. We had such a good time that we did it the next year, too. As more women deans retired, we added them. Now we’re up to 10—there are more, but we had to cap it because of travel logistics!”
It’s a good problem to have, and a sign that women leading pharmacy schools and colleges is now becoming the norm. Schumock credits Sagraves for being part of that change: “Her example, and subsequent efforts to promote women in leadership positions, helped pave the way for a whole generation.”