Texas A&M Programs Fuel Local Economy
Published Jan 24, 2008
Physicians and nurses are always in demand, and Texas A&M is doing its part by increasing enrollment at its Health Science Center.
There is nothing like a $95 million building to demonstrate the explosion of growth at Texas A&M University.
Officials gathered in May 2006 to break ground on the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building, the largest single construction project in the school’s history.
The building – designed to create an architectural connection between the east and west campuses – will be a powerful symbol of the increasing focus on team research, says James Calvin, the university’s executive associate vice president for research.
Rising costs and increasingly complex technology make sharing research and resources a common-sense solution, Calvin says, with positive implications for the sciences.
While the building will be a boon for professional researchers, it will be equally valuable for students, he says. “From freshman to Ph.D.’s, it will simulate research experiences and participation. It will dramatically impact the educational experience of all students who wish to expand their exposure to life sciences.”
Other health-related parts of Texas A&M, including components of the Health Science Center, are experiencing growth.
Roderick McCallum, vice president for academic affairs at the Health Science Center, says new technology and a need for more health-care professionals means a busy, exciting time.
The center is considering a central home for the College of Medicine. Currently, students spend their first two years in Bryan and the second two in Temple. “Our growth almost demands such a campus setup,” McCallum says.
The Health Science Center in summer 2006 welcomed its largest incoming class, 85 students in a program that will eventually enroll 200 new students each year. The larger class size, he notes, means growth for the local economy, because of the need for additional faculty and staff.
McCallum also says the Health Science Center responded to a local nursing short age by allowing eligible students in A&M’s Corpus Christi nursing program to enroll locally in an accelerated bachelor of nursing program.
In addition, the center’s Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy in Kingsville opened in August 2006. McCallum says the pharmacist shortage is more pronounced than the nursing shortage.
Strong economies require strong communities, which is where the Health Science Center’s School of Rural Public Health comes in. “We are an emerging school of public health that is gaining recognition at the national level on targeting and solving major health prob lems that affect rural and underserved communities,” says Dr. Ciro Sumaya, founding dean. “Events such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina showed the country we need a strong public health system.”
Today, 95 percent of the school’s faculty is involved in health research, much of it funded by high-profile foundations including the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Public health professionals, Sumaya says, target all aspects of a health problem, such as obesity. “Obesity is a complex issue tied to education, population, lifestyles, economics and food available,” he says. “We try to touch all these pieces of public health. We need the whole community coming together.”
Also on the Texas A&M campus, con struction began in June 2006 on the Texas Institute of Genomic Medicine, which will house the world’s largest collection of embryonic mouse stem cells. Completion is scheduled in May 2007.
The project received $50 million in seed funding from the state, on the condition the group demonstrate that the project has created 5,000 jobs. “The golden word is opportunity,” McCallum says. “The future of our state’s economy is based in health science.”
Story by Leanne Libby
Photo by Stephen Cherry
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