Faculty fall convocation to set priorities for future

MUSC president Dr. James B. Edwards will detail the achievements that have brought the universityâs six colleges and medical center into national and international prominence. The universityâs strategic plan for growth and excellence in research, education and patient care will be presented by vice president for academic affairs and provost Dr. Ray Greenberg.

Also, award recognition during the convocation will include this yearâs recipients of the Developing Scholars Awards, Teaching Excellence Awards, and the May recipients of the Distinguished Faculty Service Awards. The August recipients of the Distinquished Faculty Service Awards will be formally presented at the convocation as well.

ãWeâre making tremendous progress toward advancing our academic mission,ä Greenberg said, ãand itâs time we gathered our faculty for an opportunity to share our perspectives on priorities for the coming months and years.ä He added that the fall faculty convocation, a time-honored tradition in many academic institutions, provides a counterpoint to springtime commencement ceremonies, ãand is a celebration of our life as a community of scholars.ä Greenberg called the faculty convocation a major event at the outset of the academic year.

ãThis institution has a strong educational program in the health professions, about which we can be proud,ä Greenberg said. ãOur clinical services are of very high quality and continuing to improve. The people of South Carolina have and will continue to have access to the best in medical care and that access extends to some segments of the community that would not have access to medical care otherwise.ä

Despite a meteoric rise in research funding during a time when the flow of federal dollars is barely rising above inflation, ãResearch at MUSC is not nearly where it ought to be,ä Greenberg said. ãWeâve come from below average to slightly above average among our peers, but to achieve more will require additional resources, facilities and the recruitment of key investigators.ä

He said he is enthusiastic about the quality of recruits seeking positions at MUSC, something he considers a barometer of institutional progress. Twenty years ago, a person seeking a position on the MUSC faculty from a leading research university would raise questions about the wisdom of the career move, he said. Today, more and more investigators are joining MUSC from distinguished universities.

Tremendous resources have been allocated to research at MUSC, investigators who are leaders in their fields are being recruited, and facilities such as the Strom Thurmond Biomedical Research Center have been built. But to continue the growth, Greenberg contends that MUSC will have to remain competitive for the best talent and continue planning for additional facilities.

ãThe Strom Thurmond Building will be filled in short order,ä he said, ãand this institution will have to decide if it really wants to compete with the best. I believe most of our faculty would like us to be more competitive and stronger than we are.ä

In the educational area, MUSC has not supported its infrastructure as it should. Greenberg cited as an example the library, a department he considers to be the central nervous system of any institution of higher education. ãWe need to build it to be positioned for the information age, and Dr. (Thomas G.) Basler has shown real leadership in that regard."

With the uncertainty created by a proposed Columbia/HCA affiliation being scrutinizedby the courts, MUSCâs clinical services program is nonetheless ãour greatest strength,ä Greenberg said, ãin terms of peer recognition. We will continue to grow and expand our network of clinical practices, get the maximum use of the (former) St. Francis facility, and reinvest in the medical center to bring deficient areas up to speed.ä

Greenberg who came to MUSC in 1995, said he saw the university then as ãa place of tremendous opportunity, and nothing Iâve seen here since has dispelled that notion.ä