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Minutes of the Council Meetings >>SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
The minutes from the Dean’s Meeting on August 19, 2003 were unanimously approved. II. COUNCIL PROJECT FOR CAPITAL CAMPAIGN- STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS Dr. Lewis reiterated that the School Faculty Council voiced an opinion that they would like the Council’s Capital Campaign project to be directed to student scholarships. The Council invited Dr. Robert Hernandez and Laura Horsley to discuss the UMSM scholarships program. Dr. Robert Hernandez stated that the goals were generated by UM and UMSM administrations and implemented by the Scholarship Committee. He added that the Scholarship Committee was formed several years ago and consisted of the following members: Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education, Associate Dean for Admissions, Associate Dean for Student Administration, Assistant Dean for Financial Assistance and faculty representatives appointed by the Faculty Council. Dr. Hernandez noted that the goals of the Scholarship Committee were to: 1) benefit UMSM and meet the institutional goals, 2) compete with other institutions, 3) attract the best-qualified students, 4) achieve geographic and cultural diversity, and 5) help student with needs. Dr. Hernandez reported that from 1999 to 2004 UMSM tuition fees had only increased by $3,000 dollars. He stated that the current tuition fee for Florida residents was $28,190 and $ 36,880 for non-residents. UMSM had some of the lowest in-state tuition and fees in the country and ranked 40 out of 50 schools surveyed For non- residents, UMSM ranked 7th highest in tuition and fees for private schools. Dr. Hernandez noted that tuition and fees for University of Florida, University of South Florida and Florida State University were almost 50% less than that of UMSM. He stressed that this was one of the reasons why UMSM could not recruit some of the better-qualified Florida residents. Dr. Hernandez explained that the standard student budget for the first year at UMSM was approximately $49,880, which included an estimated $4,330 for books and supplies, $10,730 for room and board, $3,350 for transportation and $3,280 for personal budget. He stated that the average educational indebtedness of indebted graduates reflected the amounts reported by students on the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire and those reported by the UMSM Office of Financial Assistance to the LCME. Dr. Hernandez reported that UMSM students reported an indebtedness of $145,719 as compared to other private schools whose average indebtedness was $129,392. Laura Horsley added that the Office of Financial Assistance provided seminars on credit card use and abuse for UMSM students who owed significant amounts to credit card companies. Dr. Hernandez reviewed how scholarship money was utilized and stated that prior to last year the tradition was to provide the underrepresented minorities with scholarship funds. He reported that in 2002, no scholarship money was awarded to 114 incoming students. Dr. Hernandez explained that a new ranking tool was used in the admissions process to rank the quality of applicants. He stated that the new method evaluated the student’s academic performance, the quality of the institution the student came from, the scores and the non-cognitive valuables, which included independence, desire to practice medicine, participation in health care experience and leadership qualities. Dr. Hernandez reported that 23 students were awarded scholarship funds and 9 underrepresented minority received half or full scholarships. He added that this year 26 out of 32 non-residents students received scholarship assistance, but no resident or underrepresented minority students received financial support. Dr. Hernandez expressed the concerns of the Provost regarding arbitrary selection of residents and said that it did not add to the cultural diversity of the school. He raised the following issues: 1) how to distribute scholarships to minorities without breaking the law, 2) how to change tuition fees for non-residents, and 3) whether “need” should be assessed and how would UMSM do so fairly. Dr. Lewis suggested that the Council invite Drs. Mack and Hinkley and representatives of the Legal Counsel to discuss in more detail the distribution of scholarship to the underrepresented minorities. Dr. Hernandez agreed to also attend the meeting. The next Speaker’s Meeting on October 21 will be dedicated to this issue. III. CENTER FOR MEMORY DISORDER Dr. Norman Altman reported that a new center for memory disorder was being established at the medical school, which had not been approved by the Faculty Senate. He briefly summarized that a grant application had been submitted on October 2001 to establish the Evelyn F. McKnight Center for Age Related Memory Lost. Dr. Altman said the center was funded for $5M and the school would have to match that amount. He stressed that the School Faculty Council needed to review and approve the proposal for the new center before it was presented to the Faculty Senate. Dr. Altman explained that the proposal did not meet the requirement for approval by the Faculty Senate at this time since there was no faculty appointed to the new center. He stated that the Committee of General Welfare felt it would be important to present the proposal to the Faculty Senate as a developing center or provisional center since there was an advisory committee appointed to recruit someone to head the unit. He assured the Council that until then the center would not have a budget, faculty or space allocated. Dr. Altman envisioned the new research center as a multi-disciplinary program to study a wide range of memory lost conditions. He stated that the vision of the new center was “to have the nation’s foremost center of research in the causes and treatment of age related disorders of the brain”. The Council supported the vision of the proposed center and agreed to review the proposal as an informational item. |
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