ATCHISON — In a significant step toward completing a proposed new medical school, Benedictine College here is looking to hire a dean.
This is the latest in a series of milestones reached by the proposed Benedictine College School of Osteopathic Medicine on its campus.
“Last June, Benedictine College’s board of directors made the bold decision to move forward with a proposed medical school as part of Benedictine College rather than as an independent school,” said Benedictine College president Stephen D. Minnis. “In the months since, we are more convinced than ever that this was a correct and visionary decision.”
Minnis announced the proposed new medical school in a June 17 article he wrote for USA Today. Minnis said that the college’s Transform Culture in America plan — created by the board of directors, faculty and staff of the college and launched in 2021 — calls for the college to focus on STEM fields, bioethics and health care initiatives.
The move comes on the heels of the college opening a new 100,000-square-foot building designed to be the finest small college STEM facility in America. The school already has a successful premed program, and its School of Nursing is ranked as the best in Kansas.
The college has partnered with organizations with national success records in accreditation and fundraising to ensure this project succeeds.
The mission of the proposed school of osteopathic medicine commits it “to educate medical students within a community of faith and scholarship to become skilled physicians dedicated to the physical, spiritual and mental well-being of all individuals, in fidelity to the healing and teaching ministry of Jesus Christ through the magisterial teachings of the Catholic Church.”
The college’s search for a dean looks for a leader of “a distinctively Catholic medical school at Benedictine College, fostering a program dedicated to academic excellence, compassionate care, and the integration of faith and science.”
Interested candidates or those wishing to nominate a qualified individual for the position of founding dean of the Benedictine College School of Osteopathic Medicine are encouraged to submit a letter of interest and a current curriculum vitae by email to: BCMedical@benedictine.edu.