President, Kottamasu donate $100,000 each to medical school
Dave Veselenak and Adam KaminskiThe announcement was made by Rao during the ad hoc medical school committee update at Thursday's Board of Trustees meeting. Kottamasu, committee chairman, addressed the trustees regarding progress in affiliation agreements before Rao discussed his investment in the project.
"One of the aspects of (the project) that we continue to look at and explore is fundraising," Rao said. "I really think it's important that there be leadership gifts like this and that people understand that their investment will be as well guided as you would guide your resources."
Rao said he hopes his and Kottamasu's donations will help inspire a trend in others to donate to the medical school, though he has no timeline as to when that might begin.
"Whenever I make the choice to do something, it seems as though it moves a lot of the other donors along as well," he said. "There certainly is some discussion of what the right time is. There's no question that the right time will have to take into consideration people's likely willingness to pay."
Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations Mike Leto said he commended both donations, though officials are not currently seeking other gifts at this time.
"We wouldn't launch a public fundraising campaign until the first of the year (2009)," he said. "People engaged in the process have expressed their support for the project, but it is contingent upon going back and asking for their financial support."
It's also heavily dependent on the state of the economy and people's ability to pay, Rao said, but that doesn't discourage those donors who want to eventually offer gifts, as "people who are inclined to give tend to give."
Leto said an official campaign will likely launch and remain ongoing as the school is established.
"What President Rao and (Trustee) Kottamasu have done is issue a strong voice forward," Leto said. "I do think there will be some aggressive fundraising for the start of the college."
Acquiring affiliation
During his update, Kottamasu assured the Board that "significant progress" had been made toward accomplishing the affiliation agreements.
He said as of Nov. 24, he and several other Trustees held a teleconference regarding the matter and that they hope to reach an end to the search for the school's third or fourth-year clinical education site by spring.
Rao continued on to brief Trustees on academic affiliations and the faculty-led medical curriculum development taking place. He said it was a "key, if not instrumental, part" of accomplishing the school's academic accreditation.
One possible campus site for the school's later years of clinical education might take place through the Michigan Healthpark Development site in downtown Saginaw, which is minutes away from two potential hospital affiliations.
Gerald Schell, Saginaw area neurologist and contributing visionary to Michigan Healthpark's research facility project, said he has been in discussion with CMU officials at least once a month since the Board granted Rao the power to carry the project forward in September.
"All of them have been informal discussions," he said. "We've had a lot of discussions about it and how we can organize educational opportunities."
In March of this year, Schell said, a meeting was held in Saginaw during which CMU officials pitched the medical school idea and Michigan Healthpark proposed its site.
Following the event, he said, area physicians were surveyed to determine a consensus on how they felt about CMU's plan and essentially to give Rao the "green light" for the project.
"What we did was have a letter of support. I think there must have been 100 doctors to sign," Schell said. "The physician community looks upon this as very favorably."
Hospital administrators are the next step in gaining support, he said, as they must consider the project on more a business-related level and less a medical one.
As the expect final affiliation decision approaches this spring, Schell said, Rao is in the position to personally negotiate the politics the project might entail.
He said he is confident in the president's ability to carry forward the initiative.
"He has an energy level that is unbelievable," Schell said. "If there's anyone who can do it, it's Michael Rao."
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