Page 8 - WesternU View Summer 2019

View: What was your outlook then about what COMP courses, which is the traditional undergraduate model.
was becoming? As you started to see these inroads toward Our pharmacy program was the first new pharmacy
diversification, were you just trying to get through one school put into place after the profession had adopted a
day after another, or did you take a 30,000-foot view of new approach to pharmacy education called a
things? pharmaceutical care professional. So we were able to
build that anew versus having to retrofit an already
GG: Looking at the institution’s stability by broadening
existing traditional program.
the programming – which is what a university starting out
should do – meant looking bicoastal, and kind of View: And what was your role in all of these things?
following the pathway of NOVA, which used to be just Your role was evolving, too – clearly you were very
the Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine. They involved in all of that diversification. What did it all mean
accomplished it another for you as these things
way, but that idea of going went along?
from a single-purpose “…we wanted to do this in order GG: Well, I kind of had an
osteopathic medical school
administrative part, but
to a full-scale health to show a new model of how to whatever part it was, Phil
sciences university … we
and I hit it off. We had a
were at about the same educate health professionals so wonderful working
level of development.
relationship, and a lot of
Single-purpose, that they DO talk to each other. mutual respect for each
independent osteopathic
other. If I did disagree with
medical schools all had to That became the goal, and a him, I would just walk
undergo this challenge of
back to his office, we
diversification if they were motivating force.” would close the door and
going to survive and grow.
have a conversation, and
View: From that point on, I’d say “You’re free to
then, was there that kind of mindset here, in terms of disagree with me, but here’s my thoughts of whether we
always looking for the next logical step to take in terms of should or should not,” and it just worked out that I was
evolution? kind of an unofficial president’s chief of staff, regardless
of what job I held – from that first time Phil ran out there
GG: I wouldn’t call it logical, but I would look at it as
with that first sheet of paper.
mission-oriented. The one that kind of defied logic was
veterinary medicine. Everyone at that point went “Huh?” View: What was your mindset about expansion,
But one of the things that I really enjoyed with that one, especially what took the campus clear out to Towne
and with all of the new programs, was that we just told Avenue and added the four new colleges (2007-2010).
the program designers that we wanted them to design That’s very ambitious and audacious – how did that strike
something that met the future standards of their you at the time? Did it seem crazy?
professions, and not clone what they’d already
GG: Nope! That was more of what I called the evolving of
experienced. We accomplished that here in little parts – in
our own mission. We wanted to grow the institution to
PT, instead of the semesters, our initial model was a
have all the autonomous doctoral health sciences, more or
block-type system where it was all related course work
less, located in one campus. The idea was to do the whole
throughout the year instead of a random stream of
spectrum. With our experience of (community-based
6 | WESTERNU VIEW Summer/Fall 2019