SFA: College of Health

5,251 Views | 15 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by TallTexan
TallTexan
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I've been mulling a big idea over for a few months now and wanted to formally put it on a Sawmill post. You know, since it's the official way to get anything done at SFA.



And not just any college of health, but one that is specifically suited to the needs of East Texas. We are The University of East Texas and our area faces unique health challenges. ETX has trouble attracting doctors, has limited rural hospitals (and fewer every year), and is generally less educated when it comes to health issues.

So I want to create a college of Health within the University. Let me be clear, not a medical school in the traditional sense, but a College of Health. This will span our current degree programs, add new Bachelors, Masters, Associates, & Certificate level programs. New programs will include both health degrees and joint degrees with our business school. The goal is to have a College of Health to get the most bang for your buck and provide local healthcare professionals that don't require an MD degree.

This will be a multi-step process, the first of which is to combine our existing programs under one college.

Phase 1: Initial:
We'll add the following degrees to the start the college of health.
Communication Disorders-Bachelor's
Speech Language Pathology- Master's
Nursing: Bachelor's
Nurse Practitioner: Master's
Rehabilitation Services: Bachelor's

Phase 2: Growth
During the expansion phase, we'll slowly roll out new programs to expand into a full-fledged College of Health by adding the following areas of study
Physician Assistant
Physical Therapy
  • And Physical Therapy Assistants
Occupational Therapy
  • And Occupational Therapy Assistants
Respiratory Therapy
Dietician/Nutritionists
Technologists
  • Radiology Tech
  • Surgical Tech
  • Cardiovascular Tech
  • Medical Sonographer


Phase 3: Maturation
During Phase 3, we will expand into ancillary areas that support the healthcare ecosystem.

Joint Degrees:
College of Health/College of Business: Healthcare Administration
CoH/School of Government: Health Policy Degree


Certificates:
Leadership: For nurses, therapists, & other practitioners who are moving into management positions for their departments. Sadly, I see actual leadership & business training lacking in hospitals as people rise to run departments, through no real fault of their own.
Nursing Home Administration: Not really sure if this can be a certificate, but if it can, it should be.


Phase 4: Expansion
This is the wildly ambitious part. Phase's 1 thru 3 involve building a College of Health that serves East Texas by adding medical professionals to the local workforce. It helps SFA by funneling a lot of students into high paying careers with great career growth and opportunities.

Phase 4 involves taking the show on the road. I think long term that SFA should acquire Nacogdoches Memorial as a teaching hospital for our College of Health students. This wouldn't be a traditional residency program, as we're not training doctors, but would provide exceptional on the job experience for our students. It would also provide exceptional healthcare services to our local community.

I also think a chain of local clinics is in order. We could sponsor clinics in most of East Texas to help provide services, education, & manpower for local healthcare.

Overall:
I think this would be huge for the future of SFA & of East Texas. While not a short process or an easy undertaking, this would be a great addition. Thoughts?
djsfw57
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That truly is one of the finest ideas I've heard in a long time.
BigJack85
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Great idea. I will tell you some history if your interested but....... everything on that front is a challenge with the behemoth that is University of Texas. Since they have a branch in Tyler we get hosed (I had another word in mind). This goes back to the satellite campus in Longview that was supposed to an SFA sub branch. Well the University of Texas threw some political weight around and SFA got the shaft.

Your idea is awesome and I hope the new president has the chops to pull that off.
Axe 'Em Jacks - Class of 85'
Ljacks&Longnecks
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Bravo Texan, this sounds exceptional and would provide many needed services and personnel to the East Texas area. Almost had me running to sign up.
nacluth
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This is a nice idea. Honestly it's a good time for something like this. Memorial Hospital is going through a major overhaul if not just outright bankruptcy in order to try to stay open.

With a new CEO to be picked for the hospital and a new President for the college, it would be hard to present such a joint project for the community, but it would be an awesome way to help two institutions at the same time.
TallTexan
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Thanks for the kind words guys. I think a College of Health is essential to the future of the Healthcare industry in East Texas and is a major value add for SFA as well.

BigJack, I totally believe you on the UT Tyler front. We're at a serious disadvantage these days by not being in a major University System. We don't have a lot of political clout. Which is why I view it as imperative that our next University president seize the mantle of THE University of East Texas and build up support for us amongst the local cities.

I think the beauty of this plan is that it won't need the long, drawn out fight that a medical school would, and will be much more effective to boot. Take the College of Health. I'd imagine we'd need some funds appropriated, but we'll need a dean, not a building to get started. The programs mentioned in Phase 1 already exist and have space on campus, so while it might be a bit unwieldly, it's definitely doable.

Then, in Phase 2 we proceed with adding some of the Associate's level programs to the batch, perhaps through a partnership with a local Juco, but in Nac. PTAs, OTAs, & Rad Techs are in high demand and can pay upwards of 40k a year starting out.

The tougher fights will be getting the other therapy programs and the Physician Assistant program up and up and going. That would be where UT might balk, but at that point, 10 years into this process, we'd have an established College and enough of a track record to take the fight to them, if needed.

With Phase 3, those are joint and certificate programs, so they should be a relatively easy add.

IMO, part of what makes a plan like this work is that it's an efficient use of resources for SFA, gives higher prestige to our existing programs, but isn't so flashy that we'll need a fight like SHSU did to get their med school. Plus, we'd be putting a ton of practitioners out into East Texas, which is the ultimate goal of rural/semi-rural med schools.

I think given this system, just for phases 1-3, would be a model for Colleges of Health in midsize universities across the country.
TallTexan
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nacluth said:

This is a nice idea. Honestly it's a good time for something like this. Memorial Hospital is going through a major overhaul if not just outright bankruptcy in order to try to stay open.

With a new CEO to be picked for the hospital and a new President for the college, it would be hard to present such a joint project for the community, but it would be an awesome way to help two institutions at the same time.
Yep, it might be a hard sell at this point, but in 10-20 years would be the best time to fully implement Phase 4. After the school is established and is providing a number of Healthcare Providers to East Texas.

For the time being, a partnership might be in order to work together more closely with Memorial, but not an outright acquisition. Though if the hospital does close, which would be unfortunate, SFA should hop all over acquiring the property.

Then, with at least a strong partnership in place with Memorial, SFA could look at some of the recent rural hospital closures, Crockett comes to mind, and create a venture to reopen those types of small, rural places. Currently, Crockett is reopening I think, but that was the best example I could think of off the top of my head.

But yes, SFA Memorial Hospital has a nice ring to it and would do wonders for both institutions.
Pilotgirl
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And School Psych? (Masters and PhD) is already in existence under Health and Human Services (OT program, Speech, O and M, etc. Are in same building/college).

Masters in school psych allows practice in school/some jobs in hospitals. PHD leads to licensure as psychologist.

Knowing what it takes to get ONE program approved, cant imagine this as an undertaking. While I am optomistic with BB and other sports, I am the opposite when it comes to academia at SFA.

I think focus will be on STEM. While all of these are science/health centered, I think it will be focused in more research/study than practitioners but i may be wrong.

With the way UT has bought up all medical stuff in ETX, I just don't see this happening.
TallTexan
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Pilotgirl, thanks the reply. It definitely would be a large undertaking, but doable IMO with the right leader. Plus, it has a fairly large payoff for the amount of risk associated.

In regards to school Psych, I thought about including that and counseling, since mental health is such a huge need in healthcare, but ultimately chose not to include it in the outline above, simply because I don't know enough about counseling and psychology degrees to determine what college it fits best in.

UT's encroachment is something to keep an eye on. We may have to create a thread soon weighing the pro's and cons of joining a University System.
Pilotgirl
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School and behavioral psychology (what is at SFA) is more in line with science and research, whereas counseling is more theory-based. I will give you an example of what I do on a daily: LOTS of assessment!! For Autism, ADHD, Learning Disabilities, etc. This requires knowledge of statistics, data collection, education, developmental milestones, interventions based on research-based practices, medical knowledge to rule-out medical issues. Lots of report writing (my average report is 25 pages).

I work with 4 students for counseling. So 75% of my job is testing/identification/report writing; 25% counseling (and that may be high).

Mental Health is a HUGE crises across the state of Texas and is one of the MAJOR reason that the School Psych PhD program was accepted.

UT Tyler's program was done away with; only those currently in the program will graduate. SFA should hop on this quick as there is a school psych shortage, which is what the National Association of School Psychologists and Texas Association of School Psychologists are targeting with legislation and awareness programs as we speak.
Jacks4460
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Texan that is a great idea.. I can't wait until you pitch it too the new president... You have put some great thought into this..
TallTexan
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Jacks4460 said:

Texan that is a great idea.. I can't wait until you pitch it too the new president... You have put some great thought into this..
Thanks! I'll have to do a few updates & add some more research, but I might send it out to the new grand poobah and the regents once everyone is in place.

I spent most of 2018 doing healthcare recruiting and the hardest places to recruit were to East Texas and other rural areas, despite the fact the salaries are usually relatively high and housing costs are low. That, along with my wife being a graduate of our high-quality Speech Therapy program, made me really think about how we can take our healthcare programs to the next level.

A solid STEM Program, along with a College of Health, would change the trajectory of SFA for the next 50 years.
Jacks4460
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Texan you are on to something... Yes the new President will be the perfect person to show your vision to better our U.. please stay on top of this...
BigJack85
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I really believe the Board of Regents has to prioritize the development (then expansion) of these type of programs. My personal thoughts are that we can get these three programs with some solid leadership from the new president. 1) PhD in Environmental Science 2) Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering 3) some type of terminal degree in business (DBA) much like Louisiana Tech has.
Axe 'Em Jacks - Class of 85'
TallTexan
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BigJack85 said:

I really believe the Board of Regents has to prioritize the development (then expansion) of these type of programs. My personal thoughts are that we can get these three programs with some solid leadership from the new president. 1) PhD in Environmental Science 2) Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering 3) some type of terminal degree in business (DBA) much like Louisiana Tech has.


I'd be fairly interested in a DBA.
BigJack85
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TallTexan said:

BigJack85 said:

I really believe the Board of Regents has to prioritize the development (then expansion) of these type of programs. My personal thoughts are that we can get these three programs with some solid leadership from the new president. 1) PhD in Environmental Science 2) Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering 3) some type of terminal degree in business (DBA) much like Louisiana Tech has.


I'd be fairly interested in a DBA.
Texan,

This is on the SFA website. Your detailed thoughts could reach someone with sway.

https://sfasu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ey6X84cgye42qgZ?Q_JFE=qdg


Axe 'Em Jacks - Class of 85'
TallTexan
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BigJack85 said:

TallTexan said:

BigJack85 said:

I really believe the Board of Regents has to prioritize the development (then expansion) of these type of programs. My personal thoughts are that we can get these three programs with some solid leadership from the new president. 1) PhD in Environmental Science 2) Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering 3) some type of terminal degree in business (DBA) much like Louisiana Tech has.


I'd be fairly interested in a DBA.
Texan,

This is on the SFA website. Your detailed thoughts could reach someone with sway.

https://sfasu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ey6X84cgye42qgZ?Q_JFE=qdg





Oh cool, I like that.
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