President Hemphill hosts Radford forum about JCHS-Radford merger
President Brian O. Hemphill met with more than 50 Radford University staff and faculty in the Hurlburt Student Center Combination Room on May 7 to review the progress of the impending merger between Radford and Jefferson College of Health Sciences.
The Radford University session came after a morning session in Roanoke during which President Hemphill met with Jefferson faculty and staff about the merger to create a preeminent provider of health sciences, health care and human services programming in Virginia and a robust engine of economic growth in the Roanoke Valley and across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“It is our intent to have everything complete and ready for the merger by the summer of 2019 with the full merger occurring by the fall of 2019,” the President said.
He characterized his morning session with Jefferson personnel as “a great conversation about this particular opportunity to bring two entities together and do something powerful for Virginians.”
At the Radford session, questions were raised about a variety of topics, such as supervision and curriculum drift of distant programs, programmatic duplication and student clinical placement opportunities, as well as logistical aspects such as administrative and technical support, transportation and dovetailing the two institutions’ recruitment efforts.
President Hemphill briefs the Radford community of faculty and staff about the impending Jefferson College of Health Sciences merger.
During his comments, President Hemphill detailed the merger planning committee structure – Executive, Steering and five topical subcommittees that will develop the recommendations that inform and guide the Executive Committee as it implements the merger. President Hemphill was joined by members of the Radford University leadership team as he responded to questions that arose.
For example, Waldron College of Health and Human Services Dean Kenneth Cox spoke about the Academic Programs and Accreditation Subcommittee’s weekly efforts toward synchronizing the two organizations’ academic offerings. Vice President of Information Technology Danny Kemp discussed the Student Services committee and its work that will integrate the technological infrastructure.
“Our commitment is to hold on to the great things going on at Jefferson and fit them into our system here and the great things Radford is doing,” President Hemphill said.
President Hemphill highlighted that the merger is a waypoint.
“Even when we complete the merger, we will not be done,” President Hemphill said. “There will still be work to do. We will continue to innovate and to improve.”
As part of his discussion, President Hemphill expressed a commitment to frequent communications and periodic forums in an effort to keep the Radford family updated about the upcoming merger.