A. D. and Irene S. Rounds

A.D. and Irene S. Rounds
An endowment honoring Irene S. Rounds, one of the first graduates from Idaho State University’s pharmacy program in 1923, has been created by her family for current ISU pharmacy students, announced Dr. Barbara Wells, dean of the ISU College of Pharmacy.
When Rounds passed away in the spring of 2000, her family wanted to memorialize their mother and her career by creating a scholarship endowment that would benefit women in the doctor of pharmacy program. The endowment they created will provide a scholarship award in perpetuity to deserving students in the professional program.
Three years after the division of pharmacy was created at the Idaho Technical Institute, Rounds became one of the first two women to graduate from the pharmacy program.
After graduating, Rounds immediately began a doctoral program at Oregon State University. After two years of graduate training, her education was interrupted by the need to care for her ailing mother in Mountain Home, Idaho.
Her pharmacy career included work for Barkley’s Pharmacy, Fairfield, Idaho, and at Duran Drug, Lewiston, Idaho, owned by Ivan Duran, a 1926 graduate from the ISU pharmacy program. Returning to Pocatello in the 1930’s, Rounds married IDT engineer, A.D. Rounds, who became a professor of engineering and mathematics at ISU.
“Irene remained very close to the university community and wanted her estate to create something that would benefit many students. This scholarship endowment will do just that,” stated Rounds’ son, Rob Rounds.
Rounds shared her days in the College of Pharmacy with only three other 1923 pharmacy graduates: two men and one woman, Edith Stoy. The friendship between Rounds and Stoy began in 1921 and continues today between the two families. Rob Rounds and Stoy’s grandson, director of the ISU College of Education teacher education division, Dr. Alan Frantz, are friends to this day.
“It is very important that we assist our doctor of pharmacy students as much possible during the course of their studies,” said Dr. Paul Cady, ISU pharmacy associate dean. “The students, especially female students, and the college are fortunate to have such generous contributors, who make the educational journey smoother”.