KALAMAZOO GAZETTE: WMU Medical School receives approval to recruit students; groundbreaking held for $68-million renovation
Kalamazoo, MI,
Oct 12 -
By Ursula Zerilli -
During a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, Dr. Hal Jenson, the founding dean, announced that the medical school received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the national accrediting body for educational programs leading to the M.D. degree.
The approval allows the medical school to admit students and move forward with plans.
“This facility will be home to a pioneering class of students, faculty and staff and remain relevant to the future generations that will follow in their footsteps,” Jenson said of the former Pfizer and MPI Research building at 300 Portage St. “Its design and execution have been guided by four defining principles from the School of Medicine vision: learner centered, discovery driven, globally engaged, and patient- and family-focused.”
The new Western Michigan University School of Medicine is a collaboration involving WMU and Kalamazoo’s two teaching hospitals, Borgess Medical Center and Bronson Methodist Hospital.
Leaders from the hospitals, the university and local government on Friday dug shovels into a crib of soil outside of the medical school building, formerly known as Building 267 when owned by Pfizer, in an area that will be transformed over the next 20 months into a 30,000-square-foot addition containing two circular multi-tiered lecture halls.
Jenson, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton and WMU President John Dunn made remarks at the ceremony, with Upton praising Dunn for delivering on his promise to develop a medical school.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been five years ago this very October the new medical school was sparked,” said Dunn. “Kalamazoo has the necessary building blocks for developing an outstanding medical school. We have a vibrant supportive city and generous community philanthropy. One huge example is this marvelous building.”
In December 2011, William U. Parfet, chairman and CEO of MPI Research in Mattawan, donated the 320,000-square-foot building that MPI had acquired from Pfizer to WMU for the medical school.
The building sits on the first piece of property purchased by W.E. Upjohn, who is Parfet’s great grandfather and the founder of The Upjohn Company. WMU announced this summer that the medical school would be named the W.E. Upjohn Campus.
"Our family roots in medicine,” said Martha Parfet, the last remaining grandchild of W.E. Upjohn, adding that her grandfather and his five siblings all had medical careers. “To take this original property and transform it into a medical school is a full-length circle and it’s an honor for the whole family to recognize him.”
Dunn said an estimated 109 people per day will work on the building renovations, which are scheduled for completion in May 2014. The medical school will admit 50 students in August 2014 and enrollment is eventually expected to grow to 80 students per class.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/10/wmu_medical_school_receives_ap.html
