From the President

I write to inform you of important developments at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso.

On April 27th, 2011, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the establishment of the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing in El Paso (GGHSON). A day later, the Texas Board of Nursing also gave its approval. The GGHSON will matriculate 40 students this fall and will offer several options in nursing education including the traditional BSN track and the second degree BSN track. This freestanding nursing school in El Paso was made possible through a generous $10 million gift from El Paso residents Woody L. Hunt and his wife Gayle Greve Hunt. Josefina Lujan, Ph.D., RN, who has served as regional dean of our School of Nursing in El Paso since September 2008, has been appointed interim dean of the new school. Prior to joining the TTUHSC, Dr. Lujan served as dean of nursing at the El Paso Community College.

Dr. Jose Manuel de la Rosa has been appointed vice president for health affairs for TTUHSC El Paso, concurrent with his present position of founding dean of the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine (PLFSOM). In his new role, Dr. de la Rosa will lead the efforts to achieving the long term goal of establishing an independent health sciences center in El Paso.

This will include the successful conferral of full accreditation status on the PLFSOM by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in 2013 (the school was just awarded its provisional accreditation earlier this year) and the completion of the accreditation process for the GGHSON. Dr. de la Rosa has also been asked to explore the prospect of establishing a freestanding Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in El Paso. This school will promote the excellent research that is already being conducted in infectious diseases, neurosciences, genomics, cancer, diabetes and obesity and other critical areas. In January 2011, the TTUHSC and the University of Texas at El Paso signed an agreement to collaborate, where possible, in endeavors that will benefit the El Paso community. Dr. de la Rosa will oversee this initiative as well.

I am very grateful to Drs. Lujan and de la Rosa for their invaluable contributions to our university and for their willingness to assume additional responsibilities. Please join me in congratulating them and wishing them great success in their new positions.