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Update on the Formation of the College of Health

The demand for professionals educated in health and wellness fields continues to grow and students continually seek more opportunities in these expanding fields. For the past several years, faculty and staff at St. Thomas have studied how we can develop a more comprehensive and integrated approach to health care education.

Last May, the Board of Trustees endorsed a plan to advance a new College of Health at St. Thomas as part of this plan. The college initially will include the School of Social Work, the Graduate School of Professional Psychology and a new school of nursing. This week, we have launched a search for a founding dean of the College of Health and a founding director of the School of Nursing. The search committee for these positions is chaired by Corrine Carvalho, interim dean of the School of Social Work, and Christopher Vye, chair of our Graduate School of Professional Psychology, and includes faculty from these two schools, faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Opus College of Business, several staff members from Student Affairs and Human Resources, as well as a trustee.

Over the next year, these new leaders will begin to cultivate health provider partners, hire new faculty, and work with various faculties in developing new curricula and plans for the physical location for the new school. The working vision statement for the College of Health is:

Informed by Catholic social teaching, the College of Health at the University of St. Thomas is committed to educating health providers and leaders who will skillfully, compassionately, and collaboratively advance the physical, mental, and social well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

I am excited about the vision for this new school and look forward to sharing more with you as our work to develop these programs gets underway.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.