With medical school, WMU has chance to be leader in state

With the prospect of economic expansion ripe around the Kalamazoo community and West Michigan, a medical school could be a very strong next step for university administrators. With WMU closely on the heels of “The Big 3,” (the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University) a medical school would rapidly close the gap and make Western Michigan University a very viable competitor for enrollment. There is no better place to establish such a facility, and with two world-renowned medical facilities within ten miles of main campus, there are important partnerships to be formed!

The benefits of establishing this program are almost innumerable. With a more prestigious academic reputation, the spotlight for state funding would be on WMU, bringing in much needed monies. WMU is poised to lead Michigan’s shifting industrial focus on the west side of the state.

For the past few decades, Kalamazoo has specialized in the areas of Biomedical Sciences and Chemical Engineering. If we hope to reverse this viscous downward economic spiral, we must become a leader in these industries. The foundation of a medical school in partnership with Bronson and Borgess Medical Centers is an opportunity we would be foolish to miss. WMU would have the opportunity to be a leader in the shifting of the economic heart of Michigan from the Auto Industry on the East side, to the Health Sciences Industry on the West side.

The creation of this facility will allow almost unlimited opportunities for the students of WMU and the citizens of Kalamazoo to be the leader in an economic revolution that could easily reverse the situation our state finds itself in now. I hope President [John] Dunn and the rest of the university administration can make this monumental task a reality not only because I’m proud of where I go to school, but because I’d be proud to say that my Alma Mater helped turn Michigan’s economy around.
Andrew Ladd

WMU student

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=15049

Posted by heraldstaff on Feb 21 2010. Filed under Letters to the Editor, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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