UNC Pharmacy Photo Journey: 1993-2002
A look back at a decade marked by vast technological changes and a shift into expansion for the School
Story by Ryan McDaniel| Published December 6, 2022

The Class of 1993
Photo composite of the class of 1993. UNC Men's Basketball won the NCAA championship again in 1993, beating Michigan 77-71.

Class of 1994
Photo composite of the class of 1994. Historical context: Amazon.com was founded in 1994 as an online bookstore in Bellevue, Washington by Jeff Bezos. His estimated net worth is now $116 billion. Original Amazon.com logo from 1994.

Class of 1995
Photo composite of the class of 1995. Historical context: in the deadliest act of domestic terrorism the United States has ever seen, 168 people were killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.

Class of 1996
Photo composite of the class of 1996. Historical context: author George R.R. Martin published A Game of Thrones in 1996, the first book in his series A Song of Ice and Fire. The book series became the wildly popular HBO TV series, Game of Thrones.

The PharmD Program
In 1996, the School fully-adopted the PharmD degree as its entry-level degree, ending the offering of the BSPhar degree. Photo of the PharmD class of 1997, the last class to follow the BSPhar-to-PharmD path (from the Spring 1996 issue of Pharmacy Mirror).

Class of 1997
Photo composite of the class of 1997. Historical context: on July 4, 1997, NASA landed the Mars Pathfinder on the red planet and deployed the Sojourner rover. This was our first time landing on Mars.

Class of 1998
Photo composite of the class of 1998. Historical context: SaeHan Information Systems introduced the MPMan F10 in 1998 - the world's first portable MP3 player.

Class of 1999
Photo composite of the class of 1999. Historical context: much of the year was marked by excitement at the turn of the millennium. However, that excitement was paired with apprehension as many of the world's computers operated on systems that represented years with only the last two digits - meaning a computer could not distinguish between 2000 and 1900. Fears of the repercussions of this "Y2K bug" ranged from lost data sets to financial sector collapse to nuclear warhead launches. Programmers and engineers raced to fix the problem before the imminent deadline.

Class of 2000
Photo composite of the class of 2000. Historical context: in November of 2000, the first crew to live aboard the International Space Station took up residence, staying for 136 days. The three-person crew was comprised of Bill Shepard from the USA, and Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei K. Krikalev from Russia.

Class of 2001
Photo composite of the class of 2001. Historical context: on September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes, flying two in the the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon Building. The brave actions of passengers aboard the fourth plane thwarted the terrorist's plans - it crashed into a field in a field. The attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, deeply changed the United States and instigated the global war on terror.

Class of 2002
Photo composite of the class of 2002. Historical context: the iconic singing competition, American Idol, premiered in 2002. The first contestant to win the competition was Kelly Clarkson who has gone on to have a successful music and television career.

The School Expands to Kerr Hall
In 2002, Banks D. Kerr Hall opened for use. The new building, attached to Beard Hall, added approximately 50,000 square feet of wet labs, classrooms, lecture halls, and offices to the School. The building was named for Banks Kerr, class of 1943 and founder of Kerr Drug Stores.

Celebrating 125 Years of Excellence
In 2022, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy celebrates 125 years of excellence as the nation’s top-ranked school of pharmacy by and for the people of North Carolina. Thank you for viewing this collection of photos from 1993-2002. Check back weekly for updates by decade and follow along on Facebook (@carolinapharmacystories), Instagram (@carolina pharmacy stories), and Twitter (@carolinarxstory).