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TCS Education System Announces Pre-Accreditation Status for New Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine

The Kansas Health Science Center – Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine Now Recruiting for Inaugural Class to Begin August 2022

 

December 13, CHICAGO and WICHITA – TCS Education System, a Chicago-based nonprofit system of colleges that work collaboratively to advance institutional sustainability, student success, and community impact, announced today the Kansas Health Science Center – Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (KHSC-KansasCOM) has received pre-accreditation status from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) and is now recruiting students for its inaugural class to begin August 2022.

The product of a collaborative partnership between TCS, KHSC and Wichita’s Riverside Health Foundation, KHSC-KansasCOM will be the state’s first private, nonprofit college of osteopathic medicine and is expected to create $1 billion in economic impact over the next 12 years in a region where nearly one-third of the population is medically unserved. Local physicians who have joined the faculty will lead a patient-centered approach to deliver an engaging, modern learning experience in August 2022.

“TCS was founded on the idea that fostering student excellence starts by supporting critical institutional functions,” says Michael Horowitz, Ph.D., president and founder of TCS Education System. “This endorsement from COCA underscores our commitment to success across our System. We are thrilled to bring our proven model of institutional excellence to KHSC-KansasCOM and look forward to working closely with the experienced administrators and faculty, as they educate the next generation of osteopathic physicians.”

KHSC-KansasCOM will prepare up to 85 physicians-in-training in the first cohort through an integrated curriculum that includes training in advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, and early clinical experiences. KansasCOM will be eligible for full accreditation following the inaugural graduation in 2026.

“In today’s healthcare landscape, innovation is desperately needed,” says Vadim Levitin, chair of the KHSC Board of Trustees. “This new college will take cutting-edge medical education from Wichita directly to the rural hospitals and clinics who could benefit from additional support, through clinical rotations across the state and beyond.”

Based in the heart of downtown Wichita, KHSC-KansasCOM’s 116,000 square foot campus will feature innovative learning spaces, an osteopathic skills training center, standardized patient teaching rooms, large lecture halls, small group study rooms, a virtual anatomy lab, and much more.

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About TCS Education System:

TCS Education System (TCS) is an integrated, nonprofit system that works collaboratively to advance institutional sustainability, student success, and community impact. Founded in 2009, the System consists of six distinct communities—The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School, The Colleges of Law, Saybrook University, Kansas Health Science Center, and the TCS System Office. TCS utilizes strategic partnerships in order to foster economies of scale, academic innovation, risk mitigation, and resourceful business solutions, in order to maximize the educational experience of students. To learn more, visit www.tcsedsystem.edu.

 

About Kansas Health Science Center:

Kansas Health Science Center is a nonprofit organization committed to developing strong, innovative education programs in emerging areas of health care. Opening the Kansas Health Science Center – Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2022, KHSC strives to positively impact the health landscape in Wichita and the state of Kansas through directly addressing the disparity in access to healthcare. Learn more.

TCS Education System Affiliate Granted Candidate Status from Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation

 

The proposed Kansas Health Science Center – Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine, whose mission is to train the osteopathic physician of the future to provide effective, empathic, and innovative care, has been granted candidate status by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA).

Chicago, Illinois – Dec. 3, 2020 – Nonprofit TCS Education System (TCS) is proud to announce its affiliate institution, Kansas Health Science Center (KHSC), located in Wichita, Kansas, has been granted candidate status for the proposed KHSC—Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (KHSC – KansasCOM) by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA).

“We extend our congratulations to Kansas Health Science Center and its team, led by President Tiffany Masson, Psy.D., and Dean Joel Dickerman, DO, for advancing the proposed KHSC – KansasCOM to candidate status,” says TCS Education System President Michael Horowitz, Ph.D. “This achievement is a testament to KHSC’s leadership and commitment to supporting the local community by building an osteopathic medical school for the next generation of compassionate and innovative physicians. Through our strategic partnership model, we look forward to continuing to support KHSC in their efforts to make a lasting impact on the health care landscape in Kansas.”

The proposed KHSC—KansasCOM will be the first college within TCS Education System to help fill the need for more competent and compassionate leaders in the osteopathic medical field. 

“Core to our vision has always been to partner with and support colleges and universities that focus on the most fundamental areas of human need—education, legal representation, and health care, both physical and mental,” says TCS Board of Trustees Chairman R. Edward Bergmark, Ph.D. “This partnership with Kansas Health Science Center has allowed us the opportunity to help meet a growing need in health care. We are very excited for the future.”

Currently under construction with plans to open in 2022, the proposed KHSC – KansasCOM campus will include an osteopathic skills training center, standardized patient teaching rooms, large lecture halls, small group study rooms, a virtual anatomy lab, and much more. The patient-centered, community-based curriculum will emphasize a whole-person approach to treatment and care.

“In large part because of the support we have received from TCS Education System, I know Kansas Health Science Center is well positioned to build an innovative osteopathic medical school that will positively impact the health care landscape in Kansas and beyond,” says KHSC President Tiffany Masson, Psy.D.

About TCS Education System

TCS Education System (TCS) is a nonprofit system of colleges that was launched in 2009 to advance student success and community impact. Currently, the System spans five colleges, campus locations across 12 cities and a community of more than 30 global academic partners to fulfill the aspirations of approximately 10,000 students. The TCS model provides its colleges with a number of strategic resources, including admissions and enrollment operations, finance and accounting, information and learning technology, marketing, strategic planning, compliance and legal services, human resources, and global engagement among other areas of professional expertise. The System was founded on the belief that by sharing administrative resources and allowing colleges to concentrate on providing students with quality, social change-focused education, it can give each member of its collective community the power to change the world. TCS colleges include The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School, The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law, Saybrook University, and Kansas Health Science Center. To learn more, visit www.tcsedsystem.edu.

 

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Celebrating our Community of Immigrants: The Chicago School of Professional Psychology President – Dr. Michele Nealon

 

As part of an ongoing celebration of the immigrants among us extending well beyond Immigrant Heritage Month alone, it is our privilege to showcase the culturally diverse members of our System who work hand-in-hand with us each day to serve the global community. One of our revered TCS community members is U.S. immigrant and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) President, Dr. Michele Nealon.

Dr. Nealon’s inspiring immigration story began in 1994, and ultimately led her to become a passionate champion of diversity and inclusion within the TCS community. A native of Ireland, graduate of University College, Dublin and graduate student of clinical psychology at Queens University Belfast, personal interests led her to Chicago where she was first introduced to the notion of “race.” In the course of filling out her application for a green card, she was struck by the application’s request to identify her “race” given that self-identification in Ireland was more customarily confined to nationality and religion. She turned to the friend that accompanied her to the immigration office, and asked them what it meant to “identify your race.”

Her newfound U.S. race revelation began a new consciousness of diversity for Dr. Nealon, that was further fueled by her exposure to the diverse cultures and backgrounds represented in her new home city that was so different from Ireland. Both the strong influence of race in American culture, and the need she felt to fully understand it in order to successfully navigate both personal life and the practice of psychology in the U.S. led her to enroll in a Doctorate of Psychology program at TCSPP. In tandem with her academic pursuits—which featured highly focused cultural competency training, her own assimilation into American society proved to be an empathy-building education.

She recalls that while she came to clearly realize the privilege associated with her white race, her immigration experience and status were often marked by close encounters with cultural stereotyping and varying degrees of rejection for her Irish heritage—from language to politics – an experience that continues to this day. 

She credits both these personal experiences and her studies at TCSPP for fueling her acculturation, changing her dramatically as a person, and cultivating her life-long commitment to the advancement of inclusion and service. Extending beyond the scope of race alone to socioeconomic status and those otherwise different or isolated from mainstream society, her contributions to diversity and inclusion have been substantial throughout her professional rise to the presidency of TCSPP. Under her leadership, community service engagements are now a foundation of the TCSPP curriculum, with graduate students contributing 1.2 million hours of service each year to communities in need around the world from Skid Row in Los Angeles to post-genocide stricken Rwanda.  

Dr. Nealon adds that of all the challenges and diversity and immigration naysayers she encountered following her journey to the U.S., there were fifty-fold more that welcomed her and demonstrated genuine interest in her Irish culture. One of the many moving experiences she recalls is being sworn in as an American citizen. An immigrant himself, the presiding judge highlighted the fact the United States was built by immigrants, and that he could clearly see the powerful contributions each new citizen in the room would make to positively shape the future of the U.S. by simply looking in their faces. Dr. Nealon recalls the tremendous influence those words had on her that day, and has dedicated both her professional and personal life to shape that future. Grateful for the exposure that American culture affords her children today, she takes special pride in raising her two sons to embrace diversity, with a strong sense of their American identity anchored to their Irish heritage. “Raising two boys that will be true contributors to America based on the values of inclusion I taught them as a U.S. immigrant brings me enormous joy,” she shares.

Dr. Nealon’s favorable impact as an immigrant is unquestionable, and her ongoing contributions to TCS through her work at TCSPP make our system greater than the sum of its individual parts. Thank you Dr. Nealon for your tireless work serving the community and advancing diversity and inclusion. Your longstanding commitment to serve others is precisely what makes us The Community Solution in Higher Education!

A New Chapter: TCS Ed System helps Saybrook University continue their legacy with a new visual identity

How do you honor the legacy of a remarkable university while positioning it for future success?

TCS Education System’s Marketing Department posed this central question while partnering with Saybrook University to update their brand identity to better reflect the work and spirit of the institution.

A member of our community of colleges and universities since 2014, Saybrook University has been a pioneer in humanistic studies for more than 40 years. Saybrook has a strong history of faculty innovators and a reputation for inspiring students to be active contributors to the world around them.

Using extensive research from focus groups and industry trends as a foundation, we sought to create a visual identity that could holistically represent Saybrook’s vision and co-exist within an increasingly digital age.

Saybrook_Logo_Color_Pantone

 

The new logo incorporates one of the most unique aspects of human expression — a  signature.

Representative of the mark our faculty, students, and alumni leave on the world, Saybrook’s new logo is a tangible imprint of its legacy.  Supporting graphics of the brand identity include elements of nature, reminding us of the system that we all share and that we are all part of a global community.

Starting now through Spring 2016, the new logo and visual identity will be applied to the Saybrook website, student-facing communications, marketing collateral, and advertising efforts.

The creation of a new logo and visual identity is one of many signs of Saybrook’s remarkable growth and continued transformation. We couldn’t agree more with the words of Dr. Nathan Long, president of Saybrook University, “Our new visual identity allows us to remain authentic to our history, acknowledge the realities of the present, and embrace the possibilities of our future.”

 

 

TCS Education System Community Celebrates another WSCUC Seal of Approval

The TCS Education System (TCS Ed) community has much to celebrate so far in 2015, the most recent news coming from our colleagues at The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law (COL).

After months of peer review, extensive reporting, and multiple site visits, COL was granted initial accreditation by WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). COL is already accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners of The State Bar of California and graduates of the J.D. program are eligible to take the state bar exam.

“This is a proud moment for COL President Dr. Charles McClintock, COL faculty and staff, as well as the entire TCS Ed System community,” said TCS Ed President Dr. Michael Horowitz. “A WSCUC seal of approval speaks to the high quality of education provided by COL and the institution’s ongoing commitment to excellence. Furthermore, the WSCUC accreditation brings to fruition the long-standing goal of TCS Ed and COL since the 2010 affiliation.”

WSCUC is a regional accrediting agency serving a diverse membership of public and private colleges and universities. The accreditation process is designed to confirm that COL has the resources, policies, and best practices in place to meet high academic standards and achieve its educational goals. (More information about this rigorous endeavor can be found at www.wascsenior.org/resources/eligibility).

“We are pleased to have achieved institutional accreditation that affirms the quality of education we have been providing to our law students for 45 years,” said COL President, Dr. Charles McClintock, who worked closely with his team and accreditation experts at TCS Ed every step of the way.

Dr. Eileen Heveron, TCS Ed System’s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Information Technology, echoed Dr. McClintock’s sentiments.

“WSCUC accreditation is meant to promote the active exchange of ideas among public and independent institutions that further the principles of improved institutional performance, educational effectiveness, and the process of peer review,” Dr. Heveron added. “This deep institutional engagement will help solidify COL’s position in the California law school landscape. It is a tremendous achievement.”

Indeed it is. Kudos to all involved.

If you’d like to share a word of congratulations with COL, visit them on Twitter or Facebook.