Biggest graduation class at Albany College of Pharmacy

PHOTOGRAPHER: J. Jude Hazard

A barrage of flashbulbs greeted the Albany College of Pharmacy Class of 2008 as hundreds of proud friends and family members joined 196 students receiving their degrees at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center on Sunday.

The majority of graduates received a doctor of pharmacy degree on Sunday, the culmination of a six-year program that Albany College of Pharmacy President James Gozzo called a rigorous and challenging program.

“Every year, it seems, I tell the graduates that you couldn’t be graduating at a better time,” he said. “There are so many opportunities.”

The commencement address was given by Geno Germano, a 1983 graduate of the college who is now the president of the U.S. division and general manager of pharmaceuticals for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

“Find the work that you absolutely love,” he told the graduates. “Be sure to find what it is and don’t give up until you do.”

It was the college’s largest graduating class in its 128-year history.