It looks like
Central Michigan University will have to wait awhile to open their planned medical school. Originally slated to accept students this fall, CMU announced it will now defer the opening for one year.
The first class is currently planned to be accepted in 2013. CMU President George Ross says the opening was delayed in response to the preparation time needed to get the school properly accredited and licensed.
"We'll only have one opportunity to open our College of Medicine, and we do not want to move forward faster than we are prepared to do," says Ross.
The college must meet accreditation standards in several areas: governance and administration, curriculum, medical students, faculty and resources. The university is still making plenty of progress toward those goals, as work continues on a 60,000-square-foot addition to the existing Health Professions Building to house the medical school.
"We have a plan in place for moving forward toward the opening of the College of Medicine and will restructure our planning around submitting application data to LCME (the accrediting body) with the goal of being able to recruit the inaugural class to start in the summer of 2013," Ross says.
CMU has entered a partnership agreement with several area health care providers to coordinate clinical education for would-be medical students, and provost and VP Gary Shapiro indicates in a statement that may be the source of some of the delay.
"While this partnership creates tremendous additional opportunities for innovation, it also adds complexities that we must consider. Deferring the opening of the College of Medicine will ensure that we are thorough in our planning process," says Shapiro.
A capital campaign also is underway to raise funds for establishing the new school.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: George Ross, Central Michigan University
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