The day after Labor Day, I and several of the College’s associate deans had the pleasure of attending the next step in the creation of a regional campus of the medical school in central Nebraska — the groundbreaking for the building that will house our new program. It was a beautiful sunny day in Kearney, which hopefully is a harbinger of a smooth construction and implementation process.
In addition to the building, there is much to do to make this campus a reality. The curriculum must be refined for the location, preclinical and clinical educators as well as clinical training sites have to be identified, decisions regarding processes for admitting students must be made as well as plans for assuring that the necessary student support services are undertaken. In addition, a regional campus dean, faculty and staff will be hired.
Although UNMC College of Medicine leadership is responsible for assuring these goals are accomplished, involvement of institutional and physician leadership in Kearney and other central Nebraska locations is critical to its success. To that end, following the groundbreaking event, we had a wonderful exchange of information with several leading physicians in the Kearney area, who also are our alumni. We are fortunate to have their strong support and very much value their ideas as to how to make the regional campus a success. The excitement about the possibilities of the new program and its impact on the region already is at a high level, even though the first students will not start for three years.
In closing, I wanted to note that we also had another successful and moving White Coat Ceremony and Parents and Family Day on Aug. 18. At the White Coat Ceremony, we welcomed the class of 2023, who now have the first couple of weeks of classes behind them. My thanks to Catherine Mello and the UNMC Alumni Association staff, as well as Dr. Wendy Grant and the staff of the college’s Office of Student Affairs for creating an outstanding program.
We are already off to a great year.