COM Outlook - Winter 2016

2 Nova Southeastern University Chancellor’s COMmuniqué NOW THAT ALL THE NEW STUDENTS in our various Health Professions Division (HPD) programs have had a chance to settle into their academic routines, it gives me the opportunity to reflect on when we first merged with Nova University in 1994 and came to the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus with about 1,900 full-time students. Today, that number has grown to approximately 9,500 full-time students in our multifaceted HPD programs. The wonderment of walking around our hallways and seeing the rainbow of white-coat patches and scrubs unmistakably indicates the diversity of our programs. It’s a scenario that will only continue to increase with the recent approval of the NSU Board of Trustees to establish the College of Allopathic Medicine, which will exist alongside our esteemed College of Osteopathic Medicine. As a result, the HPD will consist of eight colleges in the not-too- distant future. Because NSU has always endeavored to be at the forefront of educational inno- vation, the university took the bold step earlier this year to realign many of its colleges and programs. As part of this realignment, a number of the university’s undergraduate programs were relocated to other NSU colleges, including the HPD’s College of Health Care Sciences. This was a wise move in my opinion, because I believe it will serve as a catalyst to increase the number of dual- admission opportunities for our students. During the past several months, five academic degree programs that were formerly housed at other NSU colleges were repositioned into the College of Health Care Sciences. These include the B.S. in Speech-Language and Communication Disorders, the M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology, the SLP.D. in Speech-Language Pathology, the B.S. in Athletic Training, and the B.S. in Exercise and Sport Science. This realignment also brings tremendous efficiency to presenting education to our undergraduate students because it creates an atmosphere of mentorship and collegiality between the undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional students. As a result, we’re helping to set the educational paradigm for the rest of the nation. FREDERICK LIPPMAN , R.Ph., Ed.D. “The wonderment of walking around our hallways and seeing the rainbow of white- coat patches and scrubs unmistakably indicates the diversity of our programs.”