Spring 2000: Peaden files House Bill 1121, the first to propose in detail the
unique structure and mission of the medical school. The Board of Regents is
still opposed.
May 2000: The Florida House and Senate agree on a final legislative budget
that includes law schools for Florida A&M and Florida International universities
– and a medical school for Florida State.
June 2000: Bush signs the bill into law. Many consultants are later brought
to Tallahassee to talk about creating the first new U.S. medical school since
Mercer University’s in 1982.
July 2000: The Institute of Medical Sciences as mandated by House Bill 1121
is formed as a “transitional unit” at Florida State, incorporating PIMS. But
the next month the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), in
charge of accreditation, advises that only a college of medicine can apply for
accreditation. So the Institute of Medical Sciences becomes the Florida State
University College of Medicine, with Hurt as acting dean.
September 2000-April 2001: Admission of medical students by the same
process as PIMS, through the American Medical College Application Service
(AMCAS), begins as mandated by the Legislature. Criteria are similar to those
of PIMS, emphasizing diversity in life experience. Older returning students,
students from financial and/or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds,
minority students, females, students from diverse ethnic backgrounds and
more are encouraged to apply.
November and December 2000: The College of Medicine group attends
expert briefings in Tallahassee on rural medicine and underserved populations
(with directors of programs in medical schools at the Universities of Nebraska,
Minnesota at Duluth, and Minnesota, as well as West Virginia’s vice chancellor of
health sciences); medical education in community settings (with medical school
deans of the Universities of North Dakota, South Carolina and East Tennessee
State); informatics and technology in medical education (with experts from Wake
Forest, the Universities of Florida, Tennessee, Utah and Iowa, plus leaders in technology
development at FSU and the FSU College of Medicine); and the medical
library of the future (with experts from medical schools at Utah, Tennessee and
Wake Forest, as well as FSU Library and Information Sciences).
January-March 2001: A search committee interviews candidates for dean,
including two sitting deans of U.S. medical schools.
February 2001: The LCME rules that the College of Medicine is not ready for
a site visit, citing the need for a founding dean, facilities and other resources.
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