Updates From The Dean - Issue 36

Congratulations on finishing the fall semester.  With two hurricanes, this was certainly a more challenging fall semester than normal.  I hope everyone is able to have a relaxing and joyous holiday season.  Please mark your calendars for January 9th at 2 PM for a College meeting where I’ll provide some updates prior to the start of spring semester.

As we close the fall semester, I have a few updates and announcements for you.

New Dean’s Office Administrative Coordinator II

Ms. Cortney Esco will be joining the Dean’s Office team on January 2, 2025 filling the position previously held by Melissa Adams.  Cortney previously worked in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.  We’re excited to have her join the team.  We will include more information about Cortney with her contact information in a January COSM Weekly.

New Initiative in Forensic Sciences

Working closely with Academic Affairs, COSM is launching a new initiative in Forensic Sciences to pursue some opportunities for growth in this interdisciplinary area.  Dr. Ed Mondor will lead this initiative where he will be working in the spring semester to prepare and submit a request to form a Center focusing on research, community engagement, and education  programming.  Some of the potential initiatives include micro-credentials, minors, and badging opportunities as well as providing professional development for working professionals in the forensic sciences.  Ed has been charged to work collaboratively and closely with the biochemistry, biology, chemistry and criminal justice programs in developing these initiatives.   

Center for Biomedical Research and Innovation

I am excited to announce that Dr. Carl Reiber will be the inaugural Director of the Center for Biomedical Research and Innovation.  As you know Carl is returning to faculty this summer after seven years as Provost at Georgia Southern. Carl brings his administrative connections to the Center as well as his long history of research in physiology and biology.  As part of the development of the Center, there is a team working to submit a NIH proposal to a program that aims to promote broad participation in biomedical research by supporting Resource-Limited Institutions (RLIs) to conduct research, enhance their research environments, and increase sponsored programs administration capacity. If funded, this grant would provide $500,000 per year for five years to grow our research efforts in the biomedical sciences.  The PI team for this proposal includes Dr. Reiber, Robert Mans (biology), Mark dela Cerna (BCP) and me.  

The next step for the Center is to convert the current faculty director line into a new position and start the search process as quickly as possible.  We hope to launch this search in January.  More information to come.

Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Scott Mateer will be the inaugural program director for the Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences.  I am excited to work with Scott as we begin the work needed to successfully launch the program this fall.  Scott is charged to work closely with BCP and Biology to continue the development and launch of the program.

We are also tracking the applications for the BS Biomedical Sciences program for incoming freshman students for the Fall 2025 semester.  The table below shows a multi-year history of application for all COSM degree programs at the same point in time for each admissions cycle. 

As you can see the overall number of applications for COSM programs is up by 4.3%.  We’re also starting to see how the enrollment will likely shift with the start of the BS Biomedical Sciences program.  The overall applications to the BS/BA biology programs are down by about 3.6% while the applications to the BS Biochemistry program are down by 17.6%, but still higher than the applications for Fall 2023.  This is very early data and only one small part of the admissions funnel.  The number of students accepted into the COSM programs is up substantially compared to previous years - a 37.8% increase as compared to this time last year.  However, this is primarily due to the Admissions team processing applications faster than in previous years.  They are working to make admissions decisions within 14 days. So, the large increase is artificially high due to the change in processing times.

It will be essential that we continue to work with the Admissions team to help increase our yield of students through the four stages of the admissions funnel  - application, acceptance, register for SOAR orientation, and attend the first day of classes.  For those faculty who have been engaged in the SOAR Open House events - THANK YOU and keep up the good work!