Leah Barrett, EdD, president of Northeast Community College in Norfolk, and Jeff Hoffman, DPE, dean of health and public service at Northeast Community College, toured the UNMC campus Friday as guests of Dele Davies, MD, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. They met with UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, toured the Chihuly Sanctuary, the Davis Global Center and the McGoogan Health Sciences Library and met with UNMC leaders to discuss the partnership between UNMC and NCC.
Northeast and UNMC already enjoy a robust partnership with NCC, the site of the UNMC College of Nursing’s Northern Division located on the Northeast campus. Last week’s visit gave the NCC leaders a chance to both see UNMC’s Omaha campus and meet with UNMC leaders.
It was Dr. Barrett’s first tour of the Omaha campus, and she said she was excited to visit and explore expanding partnerships.
"The opportunity is to have UNMC and Northeast work together and really focus on how we support rural health care, how we support health care in northeast Nebraska," she said. "Are there new partnerships and opportunities for students to dually enroll in our institutions to earn those degrees that are needed to support our area?"
Dr. Barrett said touring the Omaha campus gave her a broader understanding of the investment that has been made in medical services and medical education in the state of Nebraska.
"We’re excited to move forward and explore partnerships that will provide health care in rural and Northeast Nebraska," she said.
"UNMC values the strong collaborations we have with Northeast Community College with the Northern Division of our College of Nursing for rural nursing workforce development and see even more opportunities in expanding these opportunities to our other health professions programs," Dr. Davies said. "It was a great hosting President Barrett and Dean Hoffman for the day for conversations with our deans and directors to explore these opportunities."