Alumni Association Home > Past Issues > 2005 > November-December 2005	Print View

When the first-year students gathered for their welcome from the University of Minnesota Medical School dean, they had no idea what Deborah Powell was about to offer them. Instead of the lockstep, four-year routine that has been the standard for more than 90 years, U of M medical students are now encouraged to take breaks to pursue research, work in local clinics or volunteer overseas, intern at medical device companies, or take extra courses or rotations in areas that interest them. And best of all, the tuition will be the same whether students hurry through in three and a half years or take their time and graduate in six.

The U is a pioneer, the first in the nation to offer an institutionalized “flexible approach” to medical education. According to Powell, the move is in response to student desires and changing demographics. “We’re seeing students come to medical school later in their careers, wanting to explore more opportunities,” she explains. “This is just the first step in a multiyear effort. . . . In time, there will be a very radical shift in medical education [nationwide].”

By blazing this new path, the University will attract different students, Powell predicts. “I hope we attract a great diversity of students. I hope we attract students who want to work with underserved communities or who want to spend a year exploring research,” she says.

As for this year’s students, who originally planned on a four-year medical course of study, “a number of them now are starting to talk about things they might do,” Powell says. “They’re already talking about volunteering at clinics or doing research here or at Medtronic or St. Jude.”

—Chris Coughlan-Smith

Overheard on Campus

“I think the industry is more concerned about shareholders than they are about the patients who take the pills. . . . I would have hoped the industry would have exercised more selfrestraint.”
—John Rother, AARP’s policy director, on a U of M analysis that found that popular prescription drug prices rose at almost three times the rate of inflation (6.6 percent), while generic drug prices rose more slowly than inflation (0.7 percent), for the 12 months ending in March 2005.

“This gives you a chance to be a part of the mobile work force. Now you can be part of the shark, rather than be on the other side of the teeth.”
—U management professor Mani Subramani, on how workers who are “outsourced”—laid off by large companies and rehired by subcontractors to do the same work—benefit from the change.

“There are voices on the right and the left today that call for ‘judicial activism’ to make changes in the law that fit their political and social ideologies. Both the right and left, by urging their form of judicial activism, advance a ‘deconstruction’ process that argues that no one is neutral and that all legal decisions are relative and subjective—entirely malleable and subject to one’s own political agenda.”
—E. Thomas Sullivan, senior vice president and provost at the U and former dean of the law school.

“Our goal is to be one of the top three public research universities in the world, and that of course includes schools that rock. So, to students, faculty, and staff, I say: ‘Rock on.’”
—Linda Thrane, vice president of University Relations, on learning that RollingStone.com ranks the U of M ninth in the nation as a school that knows how to rock, giving high marks to the strong music department, Radio K, and the Twin Cities’ music scene.

Web Hit: Don’t Drink the Water

The people of Watersedge are in danger and only one person who can save them: you, the new intern at the Watersedge Department of Public Health. Racing through the virtual streets of town in the new online game Outbreak at Watersedge, you help trace the source of a disease outbreak in town. Your computer adds to the sense of urgency by reminding you how many more people are falling ill. Designed by the Midwest Center for Life-Long-Learning in Public Health, part of the U’s School of Public Health, the game shows the variety of people involved in halting an outbreak. Aimed at getting young people interested in public health careers, Outbreak at Watersedge also includes numerous links to information on public health careers, short video clips of speakers on various topics, background about public health and health threats, and more.