Fast start for Worcester's health sciences college
Monahan: Our Worcester facilities are an extension of our Boston school, which has been operating for 182 years and has 2300 students. In 1999, we bought two buildings in downtown Worcester. We completed renovations on the first building in 2000 and will finish work on the second structure, the old Graphic Arts building, early in 2006. These projects represent a $44 million investment. The School of Pharmacy, at 19 Foster St., is now at full capacity with 440 pharmacy students and 75 faculty members. We have already conferred more than 300 Doctor of Pharmacy degrees.
WBJ:How about expansion plans in Worcester?
Monahan: This January we start a fully-accredited Bachelor’s in Nursing program, with our first class of 45 students. We hope to have 200 nursing students enrolled within three years. The nursing school is located in the newly renovated Graphic Arts building at 25 Foster St, which we now call the Living and Learning Center. We started renovating this 100,000-square-foot building in Feb. of 2005 and within 6 months had an occupancy permit for 175 beds of student housing. Our two buildings are linked by passageways, and students in both facilities can use the library, computer labs, and classrooms in the Living and Learning Center. The Worcester community really stepped up to the plate to help us fund this second building. We raised more than $4 million from the Worcester Foundation and other philanthropic groups. Worcester is on the move, and a lot has happened in the five years since we opened.
WBJ: Will you add programs for other health care specialties?
Monahan: We’ve made no decisions yet, but we will be evaluating for Worcester several programs currently offered in Boston. These include: a master’s in physician’s assistant and bachelor’s programs in dental hygiene, radiography, radiation therapy, and nuclear medicine technology. There is certainly room for expansion in our Living and Learning Center, and we are consulting with Worcester hospitals to determine their needs.
WBJ: Any special focus to your programs at the Worcester campus?
Monahan: We offer accelerated programs. The Doctor of Pharmacy program typically takes 6 years—two years of liberal arts and 4 professional years. In Worcester, we only offer professional training. About 60% of our entering students have already earned a bachelor’s degree. These students can complete their doctor of pharmacy in 2 years and 10 months through an accelerated professional program that includes year-round schooling. We are only the third pharmacy school out of some 90 in the U.S. to offer such a program, and we are attracting students from all over the country. We accepted 150 new pharmacy students this academic year out of some 800 qualified applicants. Our nursing program is also accelerated. Incoming students with a bachelor’s degree can get a bachelor’s in nursing in just 16 months.
WBJ: Who is your typical student?
Monahan: A great percentage of our students are college graduates from other fields who were looking for a new career and saw health sciences as very appealing and lucrative. Because of the aging population, the demand for health professionals is tremendous. Last year, more than 4 billion prescriptions were filled in the U.S. alone, a figure that has doubled over just a few years. The typical pharmacist makes between $90,000 to $100,000 a year. Nurses can make $100,000 a year, physician’s assistants $90,000 and dental hygienists $70,000.
WBJ: To what extent is your college working with health-care institutions?
Monahan: The Worcester Medical Center is just across the street, and what better place to open a college of health care sciences than near a $300 million hospital? We also work closely with the UMass Memorial system, where 8 of our faculty are located. And we helped the Family Health and Social Services facility on Queen St. open its pharmacy, and our students do rotations there. These are just a few examples.
WBJ: What’s the biggest challenge ahead for you here in Worcester?
Monahan: To maximize our campus facilities here with fully-accredited programs. Hopefully, that growth will lead to even further expansion in Worcester.
This interview was conducted and edited for length by WBJ Chief Editor Larry Maloney.
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