Mala Chinoy interviews as last candidate for associate dean
Dr. Mala Chinoy met with students, faculty and staff Monday to discuss her potential as an associate dean of student affairs for the College of Medicine. Chinoy is one of three finalists vying for the position at Central Michigan University. She is currently a professor of biochemistry, molecular biology and pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa.
Chinoy said one of her key concerns is the lack of a founding dean to give the College direction.
“Overall vision has to be very clear as to how it’s going to be implemented and who is going to do what,” Chinoy said. “It depends on what the university wants and what the College of Medicine wants.”
If chosen for the position, Chinoy would work with education, recruitment, retention and outreach for CMU’s College of Medicine. She emphasized her organizational skills, vision and team leadership mentality as valuable assets.
Chinoy said she would make sure students are not lost in the shuffle.
“If you are in education and you commit yourself to a file of education your first priority is students,” she said. “Young people energize me and I have committed myself to sharing my knowledge and expertise.”
Chinoy expressed ideas for retention in the central and northern Michigan area through tuition re-payment programs and scholarships, even small of amounts, to attract students.
She suggested a residency program where students would work in hospitals in Northern Michigan in their third and fourth years. This would allow them to experience heath care in a rural community, because not all students are interested in a large urban environment, Chinoy said.
Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe said he knows some local doctors who have settled into the life of central Michigan and put down roots in the community.
“What brought them here was the financial incentive at the hospital,” he said.
Chinoy expressed an interest in bringing these incentives to more hospitals to retain students in the area. This would off-set tuition costs, she said, and also attract students to the school and keep them in northern Michigan— an objective of the College of Medicine.
It is hard to know how much money to raise, she said, without a set amount for tuition rates. This plan would also need to be lead by the dean of the college.
“We won’t know what the actual tuition rate is until it is determined by the Board of Trustees,” said Vicki Graczyk, manager of planning and program development for the College of Medicine. “Which will happen later along in the process.”
Central Michigan is attempting something slightly backwards of what most medical schools do, said John Lopes, Physicians Assistant assistant professor. Most schools expand into the physicians assistant program from the medical school program, not the other way around. He sees potential for collaboration in the union.
“There are folks in the building that don’t think this is a good idea,” he said. “At least from our program perspective... there are a few areas we could do things together.”
