UNLV moves forward on naming planning dean for medical school

Plans for UNLV’s proposed four-year medical school are moving forward with the recommendation for a planning dean, though officials declined to name the candidate.

The decision by Acting President Don Snyder and Provost John White should be made “very soon,” said Carl Reiber, vice provost for academic affairs.

Reiber said Tuesday that he and his colleagues conferred with 50 to 60 deans of reputable schools before choosing a handful of finalists who had experience in creating medical schools.

“We called sitting deans and vice chancellors for health sciences and said we’re looking for good leadership,” Reiber said.

Some expressed interest and others made recommendations. The planning dean will hold office while the university searches for a founding dean, or could assume both jobs.

Meanwhile, officials are working on a preliminary budget.

A proposal will be presented to the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents in June and is due to Gov. Brian Sandoval in September.

The budget should be finalized this year and ready to present to the Legislature in 2015.

An initial class of 60 students could enroll as early as 2017, according to an October 2013 study commissioned by the Lincy Institute and completed by Pittsburgh-based medical consulting group Tripp Umbach.

Regent and NSHE chair of health sciences James Dean Leavitt said that the date is ambitious, but necessary.

Do you set a date after you have the resources, or do you set a date and then resources will flow, asked Leavitt during a UNLV faculty senate meeting Tuesday. “Most people on the board ... have come to the conclusion that unless we set an aggressive date and dedicate the resources to it, this is never going to happen.”

In December 2013, the Board of Regents green-lighted the planning process for the proposed four-year medical school.

Contact reporter Kristy Totten at ktotten@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3809. Follow @kristy_tea on Twitter.