UC School of Pharmacy could open campus in Kentucky

The University of Charleston School of Pharmacy already draws students from around the country but may soon open a branch campus in Kentucky to expand its reach.

University officials announced in January the Charleston school is considering a partnership with Midway College, a private institution in Kentucky, to open a branch pharmacy school campus in Paintsville.

Midway and UC signed a letter of intent on Dec. 28 agreeing to a 60-day "due diligence" period to work out details of a partnership.

That period is now drawing to a close but UC president Ed Welch said there are still a few questions left to answer before the schools move forward with their plans.

Welch said the first question is, "Would it be an academically strong program?"

"The answer seems to be yes," he said.

A satellite campus in Kentucky would utilize distance-learning technology to connect students with teachers here in the Mountain State. That means students would sometimes teleconference with professors, instead of having a live teacher in the classroom.

"Other schools have done branch pharmacy campuses," Welch said. "There are ways to use distance education to have a high-quality program."

Welch said the second question is, does UC's pharmacy school faculty support the change. The jury is still out on that one.

The University of Charleston School of Pharmacy already draws students from around the country but may soon open a branch campus in Kentucky to expand its reach.

University officials announced in January the Charleston school is considering a partnership with Midway College, a private institution in Kentucky, to open a branch pharmacy school campus in Paintsville.

Midway and UC signed a letter of intent on Dec. 28 agreeing to a 60-day "due diligence" period to work out details of a partnership.

That period is now drawing to a close but UC president Ed Welch said there are still a few questions left to answer before the schools move forward with their plans.

Welch said the first question is, "Would it be an academically strong program?"

"The answer seems to be yes," he said.

A satellite campus in Kentucky would utilize distance-learning technology to connect students with teachers here in the Mountain State. That means students would sometimes teleconference with professors, instead of having a live teacher in the classroom.

"Other schools have done branch pharmacy campuses," Welch said. "There are ways to use distance education to have a high-quality program."

Welch said the second question is, does UC's pharmacy school faculty support the change. The jury is still out on that one.

"Right now, there's a multiplicity of views on that question from 'Yes, having a branch in Painstville strengthens the program' to 'Let's make our first priority to have a strong program in Charleston,'" he said.

He said the university also wants to make sure opening a branch campus will be a financially viable decision. UC needs to figure out what an initial investment at Paintsville will cost, how many faculty and staff it will need to hire, and how many students are likely to enroll.

"We've begun to study and collect data on what's the likely enrollment at the Paintsville site," he said.

"We have a couple more weeks to continue the due diligence then we'll wrap up those and make a decision."

Welch said some students from Kentucky already have applied to UC, but those students have indicated they will attend the pharmacy school even if the Paintsville campus does not come to fruition.

He said the school also has interviewed several potential staff members and hired one employee to serve as director of student services.

"That will be helping both with recruitment of students and with student activities, organizations and professional development of students in the graduate program," he said.

Contact writer Zack Harold at 304-348-7939 or zack.har...@dailymail.com. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/ZackHarold.

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UC School of Pharmacy could open campus in Kentucky