UM president bringing Unity Tour to Northwest

lamb med

Dr. Gordon H. Lamb, interim
president of the University of Missouri.

Dr. Gordon H. Lamb, interim president of the University of Missouri, and Dr. Dean L. Hubbard, president of Northwest Missouri State University, will co-host a University Unity Tour event at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in the J.W. Jones Student Union Boardroom on the Northwest campus.

This is the second consecutive year the leaders of both institutions have made a joint public presentation at Northwest to discuss goals held in common by Missouri’s public colleges and universities. Both presidents will focus on a collaborative plan to increase the number of graduates qualified to meet the state’s growing need for health-care professionals.

Community leaders, Northwest faculty and staff, the public and members of the news media are encouraged to attend.

The health-care education initiative, known as “Preparing to Care,” has garnered support from Missouri’s two- and four-year institutions of higher learning. It proposes an annual state appropriation of $38 million to help boost the number of graduates with degrees related to the health-care professions.

If funded by the state, “Preparing to Care” would seek to increase the number of graduates in health-related fields by 20 percent, which translates to about 900 additional health-care professionals annually. Estimates break that figure down to approximately 30 physicians, 30 pharmacists, 500 nurses and 300 allied health professionals, such as respiratory and physical therapists.

According to the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education, 90 percent of Missouri’s 114 counties are served by an insufficient number of physicians. In addition, a 20 percent nursing shortage statewide is expected by 2015.

Board figures also predict the state will be short 700 pharmacists by 2015 and indicate that 93 percent of Missouri’s counties currently lack an adequate number of dentists and dental hygienists.

Should “Preparing to Care” win full funding by the Legislature, it would provide $32 million annually for four-year institutions with the remainder going to two-year community colleges. According to the current proposal, none of the money would go for new buildings but rather toward hiring faculty, updating equipment and renovating facilities to accommodate more students.

Lamb has already attended University Unity Tour events this year at Missouri State University in Springfield and the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. Similar presentations are scheduled for Truman State University in Kirksville and on the four University of Missouri campuses, which are located in Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla and St. Louis.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone (660) 562-1704
Fax (660) 562-1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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