UC Riverside’s School of Medicine got word late Tuesday that it can open its doors next fall.

After a year of furious fundraising and several months of nervously waiting for the decision of the Washington, D.C.-based Liaison Committee for Medical Education, the school received preliminary accreditation.

The school’s dean, G. Richard Olds, said the news brought a brief period of bedlam to the administrative offices.

“People were running around here hugging and yelling,” Olds said.

The proposed school was scheduled to admit its first class this fall. But in July 2011, the accreditation board denied UCR’s application. The denial was primarily due to the state’s failure to commit $15 million per year to fund the school.

Olds said there has never been a case where a school has been turned down by the accreditation committee, reapplied a year later and received approval. He credited the support of Riverside and the surrounding communities.

“We basically said, ‘If we’re going to get this school open, we’re going to have to turn to the people in our community to step up.’ And that’s exactly what they did.”

For years, officials talked about establishing a medical school at UCR. But it wasn’t until 2008 that the university received approval for a medical school. In 2010, Olds took over as dean of the school. He was hired by Chancellor Timothy P. White to get the school open.

Olds’ first effort failed.

It was a disheartening blow, and many people wondered if the school would be able to open without the state support it had expected. But White said he never doubted.

“I was disappointed, but I was not deterred,” White said. “I had absolute confidence we would be successful. That’s not being arrogant or being cocky. I knew the strength of the program, and I thought it was our time.”

Working with Riverside County Supervisors, city and community leaders, hospitals and health-care workers and the UC President’s Office, the medical school was able to raise commitments of $10 million per year for 10 years.

On Tuesday, the accreditation board — which had given the school a flawless report based on a site visit in August — said that funding was adequate.

Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce CEO and President Cindy Roth said the announcement raised excitement in her offices. She had stepped out of a staff meeting to take the phone call that gave her the news.

“I literally started yelling,” Roth said “The whole office knew what has going on. Yes, I was screaming.”

Roth said the effort to make the medical school a reality had galvanized the community.

“Everybody got on the same page to make this happen,” she said. “We worked hard on it. Tim White has made this a top priority. Bringing in Dean Olds, the two of them together are the two top individuals to make this happen. Their leadership truly kept everybody focused.”

Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster also credited Olds. But he said he found an unusual amount of support among his constituents.

“It was a unified effort,” Buster said, “I went out and everybody was on board. That was really heartening to see. We’re now a large enough area that we can get over these obstacles.”

Mayor Ron Loveridge, off looking for business opportunities for Riverside, said this starts a new chapter for the city.

“I’m here in Houston,” Loveridge said by phone. “One of the reasons Houston took off is they got the Baylor medical folks to set up a school and a hospital here. It has all kinds of (economic) spinoffs.”

Adding the medical school to UCR, he said, “is a major statement of a coming of age.”

Olds said the next step will be to enroll students. UC Riverside has been in partnership with UCLA’s medical school since 1974 with the Haider Program. Each year, two dozen students enter the program and spend their first two years of medical school studying at UCR. They spend their final two years at UCLA. The students entering that program in 2013 will be part of the medical school’s first class of students. Another 26 will come from outside the campus.

Olds said most students already have submitted applications for medical school. Schools typically send out acceptance letters at the beginning of the year.

Even though UCR is late getting into the game, Olds said, “We still have plenty of time to recruit our class.”

He called the launching of the school the most important moment in his career as a physician, educator and administrator.

“But this isn’t all about me,” he said. “There were a lot of people who did the heavy lifting to get the doors open. All the people in the community that stood up for me and stood up at a difficult time politically, those are the real heroes.

UCR Medical School Timeline

1967: The University of California establishes a medical school at UC Irvine, the last time a UC medical school opened.

1974: The Haider Program is established. Two dozen students spend their first two years of medical school at UCR before going to UCLA for the final two years.

1997: Inland orthopedic surgeon Thomas T. Haider pledges $5 million to UC Riverside and promises millions of dollars in future royalties from a medical device he invented. Haider eventually leads the campaign to establish a medical school at the university.

2002: Riverside County supervisors and UC Riverside leaders agree to hire a consultant to plan a proposed $100 million medical school.

2003: Supporters of a Riverside medical school lobby to have an Inland representative on the UC Board of Regents. Riverside lawyer Bruce D. Varner is appointed in 2006.

2005: UCR formally reveals its bid to bring a medical school to Riverside.

2006: UCR submits its proposal to the University of California’s president with the hope students could begin graduating with medical degrees by 2016. Inland residents William Austin and Bart Singletary and their wives agree to donate $15.5 million to UCR toward its medical school effort. The funds would only be available after the donors’ deaths. Health insurer UnitedHealth Group donates $5 million to UCR and UC Merced, which also proposes a medical school. The UC Board of Regents recommends approving UCR’s preliminary proposal.

2008: Timothy P. White is appointed as UCR chancellor. The school receives the go-ahead from UC regents to become the UC system’s sixth medical school.

2009: Dr. G. Richard Olds becomes dean of the proposed UC Riverside medical school.

2011: The school’s accreditation is delayed because the state doesn’t budget any funds toward the school’s development.

October 2012: The medical school receives accreditation and can begin accepting students in fall 2013.