By Marc Kovac
and Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writers
COLUMBUS -- Gov. Ted Strickland is considering candidates to make up a new board for the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rootstown, under a provision that became law when he signed the biennial capital budget earlier this week.
The legislation also added Cleveland State University as one of the collaborative institutions involved in NEOUCOM and expanded the consortium's board to 11 members from nine. The changes were among the recommendations supported by a study commission and outlined earlier by Eric Fingerhut, the state's higher education chancellor.
There are still concerns about the details of NEOUCOM's new alignment. Despite NEOUCOM's assurances that no current member would lose seats in the medical school's classes once CSU is added to the consortium, Youngstown State University President David Sweet told the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper the move could mean YSU has "no direct representation on the board and no guarantee that the university would have any geographic representation either."
KSU, Akron U and YSU currently each command 35 slots in the bachelor's degree/medical doctorate program. In multiple interviews, NEOUCOM President Lois Margaret Nora has welcomed the addition of CSU to the BS/MD program, contingent upon the state providing additional funding and without adversely affecting current members.
Sweet also told the Vindicator the bill contains nothing "to indicate how adding CSU to the program will be funded."
NEOUCOM spokesman Mark Bosko reaffirmed Nora's remarks Thursday. Sweet was unavailable for comment, but YSU spokesman Ron Cole said NEOUCOM's program remains "extremely important to YSU and the entire Mahoning Valley."
The nine-member NEOUCOM board previously included the presidents of Akron U, KSU and YSU, with terms stretching as long as they were in their positions, Bosko said.
Additionally, each university's board selected one of their own members to serve on the NEOUCOM board for terms of up to six years. The member universities also each appointed someone from the community for nine-year terms.
Under the legislation signed by Strickland this week, the current board will remain in place for 90 days, then be replaced by a new nine-member board selected by him and serving nine-year terms, with an additional two non-voting student members to be named.
Strickland is "currently in the process of considering candidates for the appointments," said Keith Dailey, the governor's spokesman. "Chancellor Fingerhut will be closely involved in the process."
"We look forward to working with the governor to make sure the program remains strong," YSU's Cole said. "We want to make sure YSU and the hospitals and medical community in the valley remain a critical part of the NEOUCOM mission. And we're sure that's something the governor and chancellor also want."