The Faculty Advisory Committee’s initial report on a veteran-focused medical school will give the chancellor a snapshot of faculty sentiments toward the idea, the committee chair said.

University Professor Sean O’Keefe chaired the 21-member advisory committee, which met six times from Sept. 4 to Oct. 12 before submitting its final report to the chancellor on Oct. 23. The committee was charged with further exploring the idea of a first-of-its-kind veteran-focused medical school at the university.

“I mean, it’s very early, and this was precisely the kind of snapshot I think the chancellor was looking for as to what’s everybody thinking right now, rather than giving (him) a lot of detailed recommendations on how to do that,” O’Keefe said.

The initial due date of the report was Oct. 5, but O’Keefe said Syverud granted the committee a two-week extension after O’Keefe convinced him the committee would benefit from one more thorough discussion. The report was obtained by The Daily Orange on Oct. 31, and released by the university on Nov. 3.

The purpose of that discussion, O’Keefe said, was to get the specifics of the report in place and ensure that each committee member felt comfortable that the language used in the report reflected the consensus of input the committee members received from faculty.

The nearly 50 pages of input in the report, which was generally skeptical in regard to the goal that the college of medicine would be self-sustaining and not drown resources from other areas of the university, was generated from committee members’ consultations with faculty in their respective departments and from a survey sent to SU’s 1,649 faculty members.

O’Keefe said some members did presentations on the idea of the medical school in their departments, and that he himself did a brief description of the idea in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He added that the 12 findings listed in the report were generated from every suggestion and proposed finding made by a committee member and through the survey data.

The findings emerged from collections of views surrounding a specific topic, he added, since there were several observations from faculty on different issues that were very similar. The phrasing of the findings was framed at the committee’s six meetings.

The input from faculty is diverse, O’Keefe said, because of the composition of the committee, which is comprised of 21 members that represent nine different colleges and multiple disciplines at SU. There were very few crossover kinds of cases between the members of the committee where people had common experiences or portfolios, he added.

“There was nothing groupthink about us,” O’Keefe said. “… What we got is kind of a micro-reflection of the same diversity of opinion that was expressed in the survey itself.”

At Wednesday’s University Senate meeting, Syverud discussed the next steps for the veteran-focused medical school. Syverud said the next step in the process will be to consult with various SU stakeholders to see how the idea compares to all of SU’s other planned initiatives, something many faculty members expressed concern over in the 107-page report.

O’Keefe said the committee achieved its purpose — the compilation of a report that is “a pretty good composite sketch of what everybody’s out there kind of initially thinking” — but that if the chancellor decides to go with the idea of the medical school, that decision will call for consultation on a wide range of implementation issues.

There are some faculty members who are more than willing to participate in dealing with these implementation issues, O’Keefe said, which include the design of the college of medicine’s curriculum, what the college’s research agenda should look like and how that research can become more compatible with research activities already underway at the university.

In regard to Syverud’s thought process on the committee’s report, O’Keefe said he could not speculate on the chancellor’s personal disposition, but added that he likes to think the report will help inform his ultimate decision on the medical school.

Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs, did not return an email requesting comment for this story.

O’Keefe added that Syverud is committed to what he has publicly stated in regard to the business economic model of the medical school, which is to ensure the college is a fully financed approach that will not divert from other activities around the university — a fear expressed by many faculty members in the committee’s report.

“I think, from what he has also said publicly, is that there is a lot more work to be done, a lot more things to examine, and therefore this is the beginning — not the end — of this process,” O’Keefe said.

Faculty Advisory Committee Final Report

Published on November 8, 2015 at 10:40 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu