Giving Back in Various Ways
By Christianna McCausland, as published in Capsule, Spring 2026
Cynthia J. Boyle, PharmD ’96, FAPhA, FNAP, FASCP, remembers the early days of pharmacy preceptor training in the late 1990s. “Our national organization had four videotapes on how to be a preceptor,” she recalls. “Some of the information is probably still valid today, but it wasn’t a structured curriculum, and it wasn’t accessible.”
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, Boyle had a 30-year career in community, health system, and consulting pharmacy. She then enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) to earn her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree. She joined the faculty as an assistant professor and assistant director of the Experiential Learning Program (ELP) in 1999. Boyle explains that students’ experiential learning then was shifting from an unstructured internship to a structured curriculum with standard requirements for licensure. Today, experiential education accounts for more than 30 percent of the four-year PharmD curriculum.
Having been a preceptor herself, Boyle understood what it was like to work with pharmacy students, fitting them into your practice. “We sought excellence, quality, and rigor; we didn’t want students merely serving time,” she says. She also created opportunities for preceptors to network, for their own professional development, and to be recognized. In 2004, she launched UMSOP’s Academy of Preceptors (AOP), designed to recognize preceptor excellence, improve experiential course delivery, and develop teaching skills among volunteer clinical faculty.
During the next 20 years, Boyle became executive director of ELP, a full professor, and director of continuing education. In 2011, she moved to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Pharmacy and Health Professions as a professor and department chair. She served as interim dean for a year before returning to UMSOP.
She retired in 2022 and was awarded professor emerita status, but her passion for experiential learning has not waned. Recently, she established an endowment that supports ELP and the AOP. Greer Griffith, MS, executive director of development and alumni affairs, explains that funding is for leadership trainings, professional travel stipends for preceptors of the year, student recognition awards, and activities that encourage student growth and practice proficiency.
“We not only are deeply grateful for Dr. Boyle’s generous support but also for engaging with us to develop a first of its kind endowment for the School that supports this important component of our PharmD educational experience,” says Griffith. “We welcome all ideas from donors regarding establishing new funds that support the educational, research, practice, and community work that is a hallmark of UMSOP.”
Today, the School partners with more than 875 active preceptors across diverse practice settings. They work with pharmacy students on introductory and advanced pharmacy practice experiences.
“Preceptors are the cornerstone of experiential education,” says Mojdeh Heavner, PharmD ’08, BCCCP, FCCM, FCCP, assistant dean for experiential learning and professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research. “They bridge classroom learning with real-world practice, shaping students’ clinical judgment, professionalism, and confidence. Their mentorship and guidance are critical to preparing graduates for the complexities of person-centered care.”
Boyle says that experiential rotations are where students “not only develop competence in the profession, but confidence.” And though she and her husband, Raymond Love, PharmD ’77, BCPP, FASHP, also a UMSOP professor emeritus, have been philanthropic to the School in many ways, she knew there was a need to support the AOP and provide a gift that might inspire others. “Pharmacists are hardworking people but if they have saved and know that their needs are covered, then there is an opportunity to give — and those pooled efforts have impact,” she explains.
Boyle has fond memories of how the AOP under her leadership recognized preceptors’ contributions, from a preceptor event at the National Aquarium to providing preceptors regalia to wear at graduation. Now, she explains, the best thing about her gift is she can see her contributions being deployed. Such as the immense success of the AOP, which in 2025 drew nearly 100 attendees, underscoring its sustained relevance and impact.