September 30, 2014 — University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy Professor Bruce Culver,
Ph.D., retired in September following a distinguished 37-year career of teaching,
research, and service. During his career, Culver influenced countless students and
colleagues through his teaching and mentorship, and was respected for his administrative
service to the school and the university.
Maintaining one of the highest teaching loads within the school, Culver primarily
taught pharmacology, including teaching an online course to nursing students three
times a year. However, he also contributed to the clinical toxicology and pathophysiology
courses, was part of the UW Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, and was a graduate
faculty member in Neuroscience, Molecular Cellular Life Sciences and Reproductive
Biology. Through the years, he supervised six graduate students, served on 51 master’s
thesis committees, and 55 doctoral thesis committees.
Over the years, Culver’s scholarly activities resulted in over 50 publications, 4
book chapters, and 40 presentations. He developed several collaborative partnerships
with other UW faculty and mentored new pharmaceutical science faculty and students
in their research. A colleague comments, “While he is an insightful and creative scientist
in his own regard, what really sets Dr. Culver apart is his ability to improve the
research of those around him. His love of learning and genuine ability to look through
a very special lens at life truly inspires me every day.”
Culver served for 10 years as the School of Pharmacy pharmaceutical sciences division
director and then associate dean of pharmaceutical sciences. He served on numerous
committees at the university, college and school level. Most notably, he served on
the UW Graduate Council for 11 years, the UW Promotion and Tenure committee for 3
years, and the Radiation Safety Committee for 16 years. Culver also served as the
faculty advisor for Phi Delta Chi for 22 years.
In spring 2014, Culver received the UW College of Health Sciences (CHS) Career Achievement
Award recognizing the impact he has had throughout his career. Over the years, he
has received numerous awards including receiving the UW Excellence in Advising Award
four times and receiving both the CHS Excellence in Teaching Award and the Outstanding
Teacher Award. Other awards include the UW James C. Hurst Each Student-A Person Award,
UW School of Pharmacy class of 2011 Faculty of the Year Award for Pharmaceutical Sciences,
U.S. West Communications Teaching Excellence Award, Golden Shovel Teaching Award (given
by pharmacy students), and numerous awards and honors presented by UW School of Pharmacy
student organizations.