The next generation of health care professionals are all around us here in Spokane. Elementary, middle and high school students will someday be part of our health care workforce.
That’s why we bring them to campus any chance we get. Last week, more than 100 area high school students visited our lovely campus to learn about the health science programs we offer.
The annual State of Reform conference was in Spokane earlier this month and WSU Spokane Chancellor Lisa Brown was the morning keynote speaker.
Ignite Northwest, a business accelerator located on our campus and an important partner of ours, recently won a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Ignite will also welcome its first class of ten companies to begin courses this fall that include mentoring, and other aspects of building a business.
In May, we celebrated the groundbreaking of a teaching health clinic (photos!) that will allow students in our health sciences programs to gain valuable experience working in a clinic and serving the public – all on our own beautiful campus.
Since the groundbreaking ceremony, work has continued on the site. Much of that work has consisted of clearing the site to get it ready. Currently, crews are excavating and placing concrete in the foundation footings and grade beams. The building permit should be secured by mid-July (the foundations are allowed under a separate foundation permit).
By the end of the summer, work on the site will be much more visible, but that doens’t mean nothing is happening. In fact, a lot of important work is taking place so crews can start building vertically. We have some photos of what the site currently looks like:
The Na-ha-shnee Health Science Institute is on campus this week, giving Native American high school students the chance to be introduced to higher education opportunities and possible future careers.
The Spokane STEMposium was on campus last week, featuring more than 200 area middle and high school students giving presentations on STEM-related projects.
This video, produced by Spokane Public Schools, features students from Ferris High School talking about why they want to enter STEM fields:
The programs on our health sciences campus reach across the state, so these students are in a good place as they work toward their career goals.
The Spokane STEMposium came to campus again this year, giving more than 200 local middle and high school students the chance to present STEM projects in a conference setting.
We enjoy hosting this event since our academic programs fall well within the STEM umbrella. STEM, of course, stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
In our pursuit of a medical school headquartered in Spokane, we’ve talked about how the community-based model will send third- and fourth-year WSU medical students to locations across the state. It is a model that will introduce medical students to communities that are in need of physicians.
This won’t be entirely new territory for us, as some of our other health sciences programs already reach across Washington, offering students in other communities the chance to study close to home.
Comcast Cable Channel 17 is now featuring video programs produced at WSU Spokane as part of its daily offerings.
The following was written by Dr. George Novan, FACP, Associate Dean, WSU College of Medical Sciences, for the April issue of The Message, a publication printed monthly by the Spokane County Medical Society (SCMS). It is republished here with permission from both Dr. Novan and the SCMS.
It’s not often a person has a chance to be part of starting a new medical school. We at Washington State University have been picturing what we want to create with a new WSU College of Medicine.