Proposal to Create a College of Health Science and Public Health Proposed by Judd Case, Art DiMarco, Martine Duchatelet, Rex Fuller, Meryl Gersh, Mary Ann Keogh Hoss, Linda Kieffer, Doreen Nicholas, Byron Russell, Rebecca Stolberg, and Greg Wintz Edits: January 20, 2014 (Rex Fuller) Statement of general purpose (disciplines involved, areas of focus, research, and/or service) Eastern Washington University envisions the further development and growth of its health related programs. To realize this potential, the University proposes creating a new administrative structure to house its current programs and provide an environment to develop and expand new programs. The creation of the College of Health Science and Public Health will focus Eastern s commitment to the diverse health community in Spokane and the larger region. Moreover, the graduates of Eastern s health science and public health programs will fuel the development of additional health organizations and spur economic development related to health care. Through the creation of the new College, Eastern remains committed to its longstanding partnership with Washington State University and the development of a health science mission at the Riverpoint campus. EWU s improving fiscal condition equates to a commitment of support to this community based effort: by expanding degree production in its current programs and creating new degree options to serve and enhance the development of medical and health organizations in the region. Additionally, the College of Health Science and Public Health will become the center point for Eastern s development of expanded partnerships with the University of Washington, School of Dentistry, the health-related programs of the Community Colleges of Spokane and the development of public school partnerships with magnet schools related to health professions. The College will consist of a number of programs that currently exist at the University and will promote the development of additional programs in the future: Current Programs Communication Disorders/Speech Language Pathology (bachelor s/master s) Dental Hygiene (bachelor s/master s) Health Services Administration (graduate certificate) Public Health (master s) Occupational Therapy (master s) Physical Therapy (doctorate) Regional Initiative in Dental Education (RIDE) Potential Programs Applied doctorates in health sciences Doctorate in dentistry in collaboration with the University of Washington Dental School Gerontology MPH option in mental health Nuclear medicine Radiologic and imaging sciences The College and its faculty will provide a foundation for expanded research efforts related to the mission of the College. Research opportunities exist in a number of key areas such as community health, health DRAFT 1/22/2014 1 P age
science, and mental health. The College, through collaboration with local hospitals and health clinics across eastern Washington, will provide internships and opportunities for applied research projects with undergraduate and graduate students. Formation of the College of Health Sceince and Public Health will enable Eastern Washington University to remain at the forefront in the preparation of health professionals in eastern Washington. Statement of alignment with the University mission and its identified goals The University s mission states that EWU expands opportunities for personal transformation through excellence in learning. As part of its mission as a regional comprehensive university, EWU offers a wide array of high quality academic programs. Implicit within its mission, EWU is committed to developing programs that respond to regional and statewide needs of society and the workforce. Accordingly, EWU is a driving force for the culture, economy, workforce and vitality of Washington State. Our graduates think critically and make meaningful contributions to both their career fields and their communities. Feasibility: Description of institutional capability for implementing the objectives including faculty strengths, prior accomplishments, etc. Eastern Washington University has a long tradition of excellence in health science and has developed well-known strengths in public health. An academic structure that concentrates these programs into a cohesive unit provides many advantages. As noted by departmental strengths, the new structure will greatly enhance interdisciplinary and inter-professional educational opportunities. In addition, a College will enable collaboration on the development of clinic space and teaching and laboratory spaces that support the academic programs, including community engagement. The formation of the new College of Health Science and Public Health at the Riverpoint campus provides a wealth of exciting opportunities for visibility, community integration and service, professional collaboration, and inter-professional education and research for the faculty and students in public health and health science fields. Inter-professional education A key advantage of the new college structure relates to the opportunities to develop inter-professional educational initiatives. The cutting edge of medical, dental, and health science education across the country includes a defined commitment to and integration of inter-professional education activities into our diverse curricula with the expressed intention that students who learn together will naturally provide integrated, collaborative care for their patients. Inter-professional education is the foundational principle of contemporary collaborative practice and as such is being mandated by many health science professional education accrediting agencies. The new college will enhance efforts to expand group learning experiences and integrated clinical work. Faculty from Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Communications Disorders are currently developing a pilot integrated clinical experience in which our students will work together with patients participating in afternoon group Speech clinics to provide collaborative care directed at their varied rehabilitation needs. Yet these are separate, isolated experiences without a unifying medium. The new college will provide a structure and a forum for these programs to develop a planned, cohesive curriculum of inter-professional learning experiences incorporating subjects of common and vital interest, including health policy and administration, pharmacology, applied ethics and professionalism, DRAFT 1/22/2014 2 P age
communication strategies for health care professionals, evidence-based practice and research methods, and cultural competence. Opportunities for new programs, new degrees, applied inter-professional doctorates A new college could lead to new program development. For example, creation of an interdisciplinary doctoral degree would be more likely in a focused college structure. This degree would respond to the desperate need of many of our health science education programs nationally for the preparation of new faculty with both clinical expertise and an appreciation of the pedagogy and research of higher education. It would provide an avenue for advanced doctoral education across the health care spectrum. The new college would be the perfect home from which to nurture the development of an applied doctoral degree. The development of an interdisciplinary post-professional doctorate degree in the health profession is essential to address the critical need to educate advanced practitioners in health professions who can teach in academic and clinical health programs; advocate and lead in implementation of health care reform; and instruct in the use and implement clinical outcome research. The Applied Interdisciplinary Doctorate could be an excellent way of collaborating across departments, institutions, and community in support of the importance and mission of the College of Health Science and Public Health. Curriculum cohesiveness across health sciences programs The EWU public health and health science programs have the fiscal and creative autonomy to truly collaborate and create a cohesive curriculum. A new college would be a rich environment for interprofessional educational, community service, and service learning endeavors, for collaborative research and teaching, and ultimately, and perhaps most significantly, for the development and implementation of a truly collaborative practice model. EWU s programs, in partnership with community health care organizations, could develop clinical- and professional-based educational programs to serve members of our community who would not otherwise have access to health services. Such a clinic would provide EWU s health science and public health students with a special, real world collaborative care environment in which to be mentored toward professional maturity. Community outreach and research EWU health science programs participate in developing partnerships with both public and private health care providers. This is mutually beneficial to both the local health care industry and the health care programs. A new college with its heightened focus on health issues is better positioned to develop research and clinical partnerships with community partners. For example, St. Luke s Rehabilitation Institute, Sacred Heart Medical Center and the Master of Occupational Therapy program have been collaborating on multiple research projects and outcomes evaluations to improve patient outcomes in the following areas: community re-integration in adaptive sports, outcomes for stroke survivors, an arts program on pediatric oncology, and driver evaluation/retraining. A new college could provide the basis for expansion of this important partnership. Having a formal College identity will foster deliberate, deep, ongoing collaborative relationships between health science faculty members with shared interests and complementary expertise with the community. DRAFT 1/22/2014 3 P age
Feasibility EWU is well positioned to establish the College of Health Science and Public Health. The health science programs are all accredited by their respective specialized accrediting agencies. The new MPH program was created with the idea that it would achieve accreditation. The faculty members of the programs are well respected in their respective fields and graduates are highly successful. For example, recent graduating classes of the PT and OT programs currently report 100% employment in their practice field. Additionally, graduates perform extremely well on national exams. Finally, the location of the programs on the Riverpoint campus provides for coordination of activities that are best suited to a freestanding college. With a new college, faculty and staff can focus fully on the needs to improve programs and capitalize on opportunities for synergies in such areas as clinical placements. The following table indicates the demand for many of the programs in the new college: Applications to admissions data for EWU graduate health sciences programs Program Fall 2013 applications to Applicant/Admit ratio number admitted Physical Therapy 587/38 15/1 Occupational Therapy 200/32 6/1 Communication Disorders 265/22 12/1 Dental Hygiene* 92/36 2.5/1 RIDE program 20/8 2.5/1 *Undergraduate program source: Judd Case, Dean, CSHE DRAFT 1/22/2014 4 P age
Organizational Structure: governance, administrative oversight, responsibilities, and reporting structure; Description of administrative structure of the organization and reporting relationships The College will be led by a Dean and will include the following departments: Dean Associate Dean Occupational Therapy (10) Communcation Disorders (7) Dental Hygiene (8) Physcial Therapy (9 Master of Public Health (3 HSAD) RIDE (3) (number in (x) indicates # of TT lines) these referred to total instructional payroll not TT line Total FTE in proposed college would be 56.6, which included ledger 1 and 2 DRAFT 1/22/2014 5 P age
Resources: a three-year fiscal plan to include revenue/source of funds, and estimated expenditures. Also required is a description of facilities and personnel that will be necessary. Additional base funds will be required to establish the College office. This includes funding for the Dean, Administrative Assistant, and Budget Officer. The Foundation will need to assign a development officer to support the new college; however, these duties may be split with other units. The College will be located on the Riverpoint campus and will require space on the first floor of the Riverpoint Phase 1 building. The space in Phase 1 that was occupied by WSU programs in architecture, interior design and landscape architecture would be ideal for the administrative offices of the new College. FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 Total Salaries Dean $170,500 $170,500 $170,500 $170,500.50 Assoc. Dean - - - - Admin Asst. $70,000 $70,000 $70,000 $70,000 Budget/Fin. Officer $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 Benefits Dean $42,625 $42,625 $42,625 $42,625.50 Assoc. Dean - - - - Admin Asst. $23,100 $23,100 $23,100 $23,100 Budget/Fin. Officer $19,800 $19,800 $19,800 $19,800 Operations (on-going) $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 Total Request FTE 3.5 $486,025 Note: funds will be provided from reserves in AA and the President s office for 2014-15. Base funds will be requested in the 2015-17 biennial budget process. Note the budget of the new college will also include the program and department budgets of the affected units, but this does not represent a change in budget. Key Efforts The establishment of the College of Health Science and Public Health will require the recruitment of a founding Dean that will bring a vision for the continued development of our existing degree programs, innovative ideas on health prevention and new approaches to health delivery. An ability to develop partnerships and to integrate a more extensive research culture for the College as it develops a focus on critical health needs of the region is expected. The Dean and the College s administrative office will be located on the Riverpoint campus and assume the leadership role in working collaboratively with other health science efforts by our sister universities. DRAFT 1/22/2014 6 P age
The timeline for establishing the College (see next page) will be the focal point for the next six months. Steps as per Academic Organization 301-01 Prepare proposal Coordinate with other departments/units November-December 2013 Academic Affairs Council Review Return to Provost with recommendation January 2014 PEC and Senate Review The Academic Senate and the President s January 2014 Executive Committee will review the proposal and forward their recommendations to the University President President Review Late January 2014 BOT action March 2014 Additional Steps Position description of new Dean completed and position advertised January 2014 New Dean Starts July 1, 2014 DRAFT 1/22/2014 7 P age