Yoder attends first board meeting, College of Medicine gets first big donation in capital campaign
Dr. Ernest Yoder got his first taste of life at Central Michigan University this week.
The incoming College of Medicine dean was introduced to the Board of Trustees on Thursday as several other items came up for the college during the meeting.
Yoder, who starts June 1, said he sees college as an institution focused on smaller rural communities.
“What I see for CMU is the dedication to creating future physicians for central and northern Michigan, including the Upper Peninsula,” he said, noting the rural environments in those areas.
“We need to prepare physicians for practicing in that environment,” he said. “That means we need to be in collaboration with our community and create the curriculum that allows us to train and prepare the medical school graduates for that practice.”
Trustees listened to interim Dean Cam Enarson talk about the Capital Campaign, which started at the Feb. 18 Trustees meeting, for the college.
Enarson said officials are still in the beginning stages of the campaign and have just formed committees to take off toward the $25-million goal.
“We’ve made very good progress but, as far as any development efforts, it’s a cultivation,” Enarson said. “So, you don’t talk to somebody five minutes and expect a gift.”
Enarson announced the first major gift — a total of $250,000 — but could not give an exact amount of money raised thus far through the campaign. Fundraising, he said, will take several years.
Annually, $5 million will be set aside from CMU’s operating budget for the medical college.
A common thread
Enarson has known Yoder for 15 years through service on national committees and said he is looking forward to a period in June when the two will work together as part of the transition in leadership.
“Dr. Yoder is nationally known for his work in medical education, and I am very glad that he will be the founding dean of the medical school,” Enarson said.
Yoder said he is enthused with the position — largely because of the open opportunity ahead.
“It is less than a once in a lifetime opportunity to start a medical school,” Yoder said. “I am extraordinarily excited about the opportunity to build the right kind of school with the right experiences and the right culture and the culture is so critical to this.”
Though he has not officially started, Yoder is already in the process of helping choose the College of Medicine’s associate deans. Candidates for all four positions have visited campus, Enarson said.
“We have two very strong candidates for two of the four dean positions already in mind,” Yoder said. “I think these individuals will make great additions to the medical school.”
-University Editor Eric Dresden contributed to this report.
