Welcome to the first issue of the Dean’s E-Newsletter! This will be a monthly publication with the purpose of keeping the College of Medicine community informed about what is happening administratively in the College of Medicine. Future issues will include information from other departments and offices as well. It is my intent to keep everyone abreast of changes in the College of Medicine, particularly as we embark on our strategic planning process.

Strategic Planning Retreat

The College recently held a strategic planning retreat with members of the Executive Committee. The agenda included an overview of the strategic planning process, a report by Dr. Wally Dyck on the Scott & White strategic plan, small breakout group discussions, and a large group discussion. The retreat provided an opportunity to present important and diverse sets of views and perspectives, but it also allowed for the participants to learn from each other and help chart our course for the years ahead. Through the breakout groups and the large group discussions we had an opportunity to identify some of our most important challenges and to begin to identify ways of making progress for the future. I am truly pleased to be part of this initiative, and I am grateful for the faculty who will help make the College of Medicine achieve greater national and international stature.

Next Steps

The next stage of Strategic Planning is currently underway. The College’s Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) will convene on March 1st to determine the work groups and give them their charge. There will be five work groups charged based on the five planning areas that emerged from the retreat. These five areas include:

• medical education
• information technology
• research
• faculty development
• facilities

Each work group will consist of 5-8 faculty members appointed by the Strategic Planning
Committee (SPC) and will be charged with developing an approach and plan for each of the specific areas. I want to maintain an aggressive timetable for this stage, and have asked the SPC to have preliminary reports completed by the end of May. Once the SPC reviews the documents from each work group, the plans will be forwarded to the Executive Committee and Faculty Advisory Committee for review, comment, and eventual approval. The implementation process will follow the approval of these plans.

LCME

As you know, the LCME Site visit is upon us as the committee will be here March 7-10. The committee will meet with me on Sunday night, March 7th; they will be in College Station on Monday, March 8th; Temple on Tuesday, March 9th; and back in College Station on Wednesday, March 10th. You will be notified by Dr. Kelly Hester if you are scheduled to participate in any sessions with the committee. I encourage everyone to be very familiar with the LCME Summary Report you were sent in January. If you misplaced your copy, please contact the Office of Academic Affairs for a replacement copy. The Summary Report is also available on the Office of Academic Affairs web page. To access this information click on the LCME Database link and log on. The user name is LCME and the password is COM. In addition, it may be helpful to review the database information, which is also located on the Academic Affairs web page. If you have any questions regarding the upcoming visit, please contact Dr. Kelly Hester at 862-1194 or hester@medicine.tamhsc.edu. The LCME Accreditation Team members who will be visiting our campus include:

Emery A. Wilson, M.D.
Assoc. VP, Clinical Services Dean
University of Kentucky
College of Medicine

Nancy K. Hall, Ph.D.
Assoc. Dean, Academic Affairs
University of Oklahoma
College of Medicine

Alex Stagnaro-Green, M.D.
Assoc. Dean, Curriculum & Faculty
Development
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School

Henry S. Pohl, M.D.
Associate Professor
Vice Dean for Academic Administration
Albany Medical College

Andrew L. Chesson, Jr., M.D.
Assoc. Dean, Academic Affairs
Louisiana State University
School of Medicine

Please join me in welcoming these individuals to our campus, and making their visit here a very positive experience!
If you have any questions, submissions, or comments for this newsletter, please feel free to contact me. Also, we welcome information from committees and faculty for inclusion in this newsletter.

Please contact Dr. Annette Tommerdahl (artommerdahl@medicine.tamhsc.edu) by the 15th of each month for inclusion in the newsletter. Each newsletter will be made available by the 1st of the month.

Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., M.P.H.
Dean, College of Medicine
The Texas A&M University Health Science Center
147 Joe H. Reynolds Medical Building College Station, TX 77843-1114
Phone:979-845-3431
Fax:979-847-8663
Email: Colenda@medicine.tamhsc.edu