Many older Americans express their concern, doubt and worry about members of the younger generation and question whether they will measure up as they grow older and enter the “real world.”

It is unfortunate those sharing such concerns were not able to attend a program Wednesday evening at Kansas University, where 200 to 250 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty members from throughout the country and around the world gathered for the keynote banquet of GPEN, the Globalization of Pharmaceutics Education Network.

GPEN is an organization put together in 1996 by faculty members in KU’s department of pharmaceutical chemistry for the purpose of “fostering and facilitating scientific exchange in the pharmaceutical sciences at an international level.”

This was started at KU because those in the KU pharmaceutical chemistry department, considered among the world’s best, believed it was important to give their graduate students and post-doctoral fellows some increased international exposure. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies were hiring most of the school’s graduates and faculty members, and KU professor Ron Borchardt and his fellow faculty members wanted students to realize and be prepared for the globalization of their field of study and job opportunities.

The first GPEN conference was held at KU in 1996 with subsequent gatherings held every two years at ETH, Zurich, Switzerland; the University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden; the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. Now, it is back at KU for the second time.

The excellence, importance and attendance of the conference has grown year by year, and now there are 38 full and associate member universities from North America, South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. In addition, there are seven newly invited member universities. Evidence of the importance of GPEN, the excellence of the participants and the superior quality of papers and ideas presented at the meeting is the fact about 40 industrial participants want to have a presence at the meeting.

From the beginning, GPEN was set up with students playing a significant role in planning, organizing and staging the meetings.

Enough about the history of GPEN. The fact is the KU department of pharmaceutical chemistry is considered by many to be tops in the world, and if there might be some disagreement on this ranking, there is no question but that it is among the world’s top three.

Students come to KU from throughout this country and around the world. The excellence of the KU program and the talent and ability of the students is such that most graduates receive numerous offers for attractive, well-paying jobs.

These are numbers and figures and don’t really tell the whole story of the KU program and those attending the conference. As noted at the beginning of this column, meeting and visiting with the students at the GPEN gathering would quickly dispel concerns about any lack of motivation, dreams, vision or talent among college graduates, particularly the cream of the crop of pharmaceutical chemistry students attending the KU program.

The KU doctoral candidates and their counterparts from other U.S. universities, as well as those from Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand are exciting and enthusiastic. Obviously, they are top-flight students, highly motivated, ambitious, personable and are great ambassadors for their respective schools.

An evening visiting with and observing these students is a tonic to counter concerns about today’s young people.

Granted, these are special students. Not all KU students mirror those in the pharmaceutical chemistry department. As former KU law school dean Mike Hoeflich wrote in his Journal-World column earlier this week, “I will testify personally that there are few more depressing things for a teacher than to have students in a classroom who are drunk, asleep or playing games on their computers while the lecturer is trying to teach something important.”

It is highly doubtful that any of the students attending the GPEN meeting would fall into this classification of students. They know what they want. They know the importance of absorbing as much information as possible, and they are in a highly competitive environment. Added to this is the fact they are surrounded by highly skilled and equally motivated students and a world-class group of teachers and advisers. They are working with faculty members who are recognized for their excellence, men and women who have been highly successful in their fields, many taking their research and turning it into applied research and commercialization.

It’s a great environment, and it is a shame it cannot be cloned in all other departments and schools at the university. There is pride among the students, who are enthused to be a part of something special. Faculty members do not hide their pride in their students and the successes they enjoy following completion of their work in the department, and there is the constant desire to discover and find new ways to do new things in the field of pharmaceutical chemistry.

It’s a winning combination in every respect, and Kansas taxpayers and Kansas legislators have every right to be excited and pleased by what is being done in this department.

The word “chemistry” certainly applies to the positive atmosphere in the department. It takes the right chemistry of faculty, students, excellence and leadership to produce such good results. Some may argue what comes first, such as the chicken or egg debate, but at KU’s department of pharmaceutical chemistry, there are bright, highly motivated students, excellent world-class faculty members, enthusiasm, vision, leadership and success.

It’s a winning combination and could and should serve as an example for others at KU.