Texas A&M University System

The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center

Mission

The A&M System Health Science Center (HSC) embarked on a strategic planning process in winter 2005. This year-long process is designed to clarify the HSC’s mission, vision and core values and to identify a series of goals and objectives that will advance its efforts to achieve this vision over the next 10 years.

The first critical step was to review and refine the HSC’s existing mission and vision statements and to develop a list of fundamental principles that will guide its efforts.

The original (and currently approved) mission statement for the Health Science Center is as follows:

The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center is committed to excellence in the education of health-related professionals and scientists, research and scholarly activities, and public service.

The revised, proposed mission statement for the Health Science Center (to be submitted for A&M System and Board of Regents approval in fall 2005) is as follows:

In all we do, we dedicate the full measure of our resources and abilities to advancing the knowledge and technologies of our professions, and bringing Texans the finest in health education, promotion, and care. Because of our work, people’s lives are changed—across our state, around the nation, and throughout the world.

Priorities and Goals

The HSC, with its unique statewide multidisciplinary components as well as public and private partnerships, fulfills its mission by:

• Ensuring quality educational programs that reflect the highest standards of excellence in the biomedical sciences, dental hygiene, dentistry, medicine and public health;
• Generating new knowledge and technology through research and scholarly activities;
• Recruiting and retaining faculty, staff and students from diverse cultural backgrounds and underserved areas to better serve the population of Texas;
• Providing opportunities for innovative multidisciplinary activities through integration and collaboration among HSC components;
• Improving public health through community-based partnerships;
• Advancing the academic mission through the improvement of health care; and
• Maintaining an efficient and effective administrative structure.

Through an ongoing strategic planning initiative in 2004, these goals will be refined to reflect the evolving vision for the HSC. Additional goals under consideration include:

• Expanding the disciplines of study within the Health Science Center to encompass the breadth and depth of the health sciences and to meet the needs of the residents of Texas;
• Enhancing philanthropic efforts to support planned expansion, research, education and outreach activities;
• Creating additional centers and institutes within the Health Science Center, aligned with our evolving vision and designed to increase our regional and national visibility; and
• Establishing regional centers to facilitate education, research and outreach activities on behalf of individuals throughout Texas, regardless of geography, economics or culture.

Commentary on Top Priorities

Although the 10-year strategic planning process is not yet complete, a limited number of top priorities have been identified to guide efforts and resource allocation for the remainder of 2005 and throughout 2006. For 2005, one of the primary priorities is the completion of the 2015 strategic plan and the initiation of an accompanying branding campaign, both designed to increase the visibility and prominence of the contributions of the HSC within the A&M System and across the state. Listed below are four additional high priorities for the remainder of 2005 and 2006, followed by commentary on progress toward previously established accountability objectives and priorities.

Open the HSC Health Professions Education Center

The HSC is in the final planning stages (pending final Board of Regents approval) for an interdisciplinary health professions education center, designed to support educational and research activities to improve clinical competence among a wide range of health care professionals. Through the use of innovative, cutting-edge educational technology (such as computer-programmed full-body human patient simulators, video review mock exam rooms and computer simulations) available within this education center, the  HSC is poised to become a leader in educational innovation and interdisciplinary training. The goal is to open the facility during  fall 2005, to house both medical student clinical training and the proposed nursing training, then to proceed with additional programmatic planning throughout 2006.

B.S.-to-BSN Program

Initiate a B.S.-to-BSN accelerated nursing degree program in College Station through a partnership with Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi
In an attempt to help address the growing nursing shortage in the Brazos Valley and central Texas region, the  HSC has entered into a partnership with the A&M–Corpus Christi College of Nursing and Health Sciences to initiate an accelerated BSN degree program in College Station (slated to begin in fall 2005). Planning is under way in collaboration with A&M–Corpus Christi and the five additional nursing programs in the A&M System to expand the HSC’s capacity to offer a range of nursing programs and address the nursing shortage across the state.

Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine

Prepare for the development of the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine
Of high priority is the development of the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine (TIGM), a collaboration between the HSC, Texas A&M University and a biopharmaceutical company that was launched in July 2005. TIGM provides researchers at the HSC and Texas A&M the opportunity to aggressively pursue inquiry into the relationships between particular genes and a wide range of diseases. TIGM also is expected to provide a significant economic boost to central Texas through the creation of 5,000 jobs over the next 10 years.

Resources for Expansion

Identify resources to facilitate the planned expansion of the College of Medicine educational program and research efforts without tuition revenue bonds
The College of Medicine is committed to expanding its class size in response to escalating attention from the Texas Legislature for the state health-related institutions to address the growing need for physicians throughout Texas. The HSC’s challenge during the remainder of 2005 and 2006 is to identify alternative solutions for insufficiency of space and resources to support such expansion given the lack of tuition revenue bonds.

Commentary on Other Topics

Enrollment

Since the HSC’s inception in September 1999, total student enrollment has increased steadily. The largest area of growth has been in the graduate programs at the School of Rural Public Health, which grew from 23 students in 1999 to 231 in fall 2004.

Educational programs across the HSC are committed to steadily increasing class size to meet the growing demands for health care professionals across the state while carefully maintaining the personalized education that has become one of the HSC’s trademarks. In particular, significant increases in enrollment are anticipated for the College of Medicine, which is in the process of expanding its class size from 75 to approximately 120 students over the next five years as funding and space allow. This will bring the College of Medicine’s total enrollment from 290 students to approximately 480 students by the year 2010.

Affordability

The 13 percent increase in student enrollment over the past four years has outpaced the rate of formula funding provided through state appropriations, resulting in a 7.3 percent decrease in appropriated instructional dollars per student. While the dollars appropriated per student have declined steadily, instructional expenses have remained fairly consistent due to the cost of maintaining high standards for the quality of educational services delivered. Despite this lag in funding, the HSC has managed to maintain its high quality of educational services without dramatically raising tuition or fees. Since 2000, tuition and fees have increased only 9.1 percent for undergraduates, 8.4 percent for graduate students and 4.5 percent for professional students. In an effort to offset some of these costs, the HSC provided more than $1.7 million in student grants and scholarships was the pass-through for an additional $16.2 million in student loans in 2004.

Graduation Rates

The HSC continues to have consistently high graduation rates by its professional students, averaging over 90 percent at each school. In addition, the overall number of degrees awarded has grown by nearly 22 percent, climbing from a total of 242 degrees in 2000 to 295 degrees in 2004. While there has been a slight decrease in the number of Hispanics who have completed HSC programs since 2000, the number of black students earning degrees has nearly doubled.

Diversity

Beyond the overall increase in student enrollment, the HSC has also experienced a significant increase in minority student enrollment. Since fall 2000, there has been a 106 percent increase in the number of black students and a 48 percent increase in the number of Hispanic students enrolled in HSC programs. Most significantly, the number of minority students who were enrolled in professional programs nearly doubled from 2000 to 2004. This fits well with the institutional goal of maintaining a diverse student population, and the HSC will continue to recruit (and graduate) qualified students representative of the state’s demographic diversity.

Among professional, nonfaculty staff, females outnumber males by two to one. Among faculty, however, males continue to outnumber females. The encouraging news is that the number of new female faculty members has tripled since 2000, so the gender gap is slowly closing. The ethnic mix of nonfaculty staff members has remained fairly consistent since 2000, with 59 percent Anglo employees and 23 percent black and Hispanic employees. The only anomaly occurred between 2003 and 2004 as a result of significant budget cuts to state agencies that necessitated a reduction in force. The most significant reduction was of service maintenance positions, many of which were filled by black employees. Thus, there was a significant decrease in the employment numbers for this ethnic group for this period.

The percentages of underrepresented minorities in the faculty ranks have increased dramatically. Since 2000, the number of black faculty members increased by six times, and the number of Hispanic faculty increased 17 times. These numbers are encouraging and are expected to continue to improve over the next five years. Efforts are ongoing to identify additional strategies for both hiring and retaining faculty and staff throughout the HSC who represent a diverse background.

Excellence

The HSC’s relatively small class sizes provide students significant personal interaction with faculty. The outcome of this quality instruction is easily seen in consistently high performance on first-time passing rates on professional licensing exams. For example, 96 percent of the HSC’s dental hygiene students passed the licensing exam on the first try in 2004. The first-time passing rate for medical students was 95 percent, and the rate for dental students was 94 percent.

In addition to quality students, the HSC’s faculty have also been recognized for their excellence, although by a much broader audience than the specific institutes listed on the accountability report. A recent example is Dr. Linda Niessen, who received the Cushing Award from the Chicago Dental Society for her television program “Dental Health Check.” This annual award recognizes success in raising awareness of oral health issues. In the College of Medicine, Dr. Gary McCord was recognized at the state level by being named a 2005 Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. Finally, both Dr. Richard Finnell, of the Institute of Biosciences and Technology, and Dr. Allison Ficht, from the College of Medicine, received the prestigious A&M System Regents Professor Award earlier this year in recognition of their excellence in research and inquiry.

Research

Research activities and their associated funding continue to expand. Federally funded research expenditures have increased by 45 percent since 2001, a particularly significant accomplishment given the extraordinarily competitive nature of these grants. State funded research expenditures also increased by 47 percent during the same time period. While institutionally funded research appears to have decreased by 72 percent, in actuality this is an artifact of a change in accounting procedures that recategorized Scott & White research funds from institutional to private. The result was a corresponding increase of 82 percent in the privately funded research category.

The number of tenured or tenure-track faculty with extramural grants has increased by 25 percent since 2001. The HSC Office of Research, headed by the vice president for research and graduate studies, was established to assist faculty members with the grant proposal process and research compliance issues.

Fund Raising

Being a very young institution, the HSC’s fund raising program is still in its infancy and was recently moved under the direction of the vice president for finance, administration and institutional advancement. The HSC has continued its effort to develop relationships with potential donors and alumni. One example of a recent success was the award of a $1 million endowed chair for the Institute for Biosciences and Technology by the Alkek Foundation in Houston. Future successes are anticipated as the HSC continues its relationship building.

Fiscal Stability

The HSC continues to show positive signs of financial strength and stability. Reserve balances and ratios show positive trends, indicating strengthening financial conditions. As it grows, the HSC will continue to develop new sources of revenue through increased development activities, aggressive pursuit of research grants and the initiation of new services that better serve Texas. In addition, the HSC anticipates receiving a 9.65 percent increase in General Revenue from the state for the next biennium.

Operational Efficiencies

The HSC is a very small but efficient institution. The portion of administrative costs as a percent of total operating costs has remained at or below 8 percent for the past two years. This is a very efficient operation for such a small school, and compares favorably with similarly sized institutions in the A&M System whose administrative costs range from a low of 7.9 percent to a high of 26.4 percent. The HSC plans to continue to monitor its administrative costs with the target of keeping them below 10 percent even as the administrative infrastructure is built.

A reorganization of its purchasing procedures has dramatically increased the HSC’s expenditures on purchases from Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs). Total HUB expenditures grew from $526,000 in 2000 to over $1.9 million in 2004, for an increase of 260 percent.The HSC is now one of the top three agencies in the A&M System and one of the top 25 institutions in the state for HUB expenditures.

Other Institutional Priorities

In teaching, research and service the HSC enthusiastically seeks collaborations and partnerships. Partners may include those within the institution, colleagues at Texas A&M and across the A&M System and outside agencies, as well as at other institutions and communities.

For example, the College of Medicine has affiliation agreements with several hospitals, including Scott & White in Temple and Driscoll in Corpus Christi, to provide clinical training for medical students. The College of Medicine also partners with other educational institutions in the A&M System through its Partnership for Primary Care program. This program recruits qualified students to participate in four years of pre-med coursework at their selected institution plus medical enrichment activities such as workshops, seminars and clinical observations. Upon successful completion of the baccalaureate degree, the students are offered automatic admission into the HSC’s medical school.

Baylor College of Dentistry partners with local schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to provide oral health education to K-12 students. The College’s Tobacco Intervention program and Education Clinic help individuals quit the use of tobacco products. It is the only dental school in Texas that has a clinic devoted to tobacco cessation. Another service aspect of the College of Dentistry is the dental clinic, which offers low-cost oral health care to underinsured and indigent clients in the community. Dental faculty contributed a total of $373,793 in professional charges as unsponsored charity care in 2004.

The School of Rural Public Health also excels in public service and partnerships in community projects. For example, the Brazos Valley Health Partnership strives to improve the health of residents in a seven-county region by coordinating centralized access to health care services. It involves the collaboration of the School plus health and human service organizations, local agencies, government entities, and hospitals. The Integrated Health Outreach System is another example of the School’s coordination of health care services through the South Texas Center in McAllen. This partnership between regional clinics, service providers and health educators improves health care access for more than 20,000 residents of colonias.

Researchers at the Institute for Biosciences and Technology routinely partner with colleagues from other schools within the HSC, plus faculty from Texas A&M and the University of Texas, and the breadth of institutions across the Texas Medical Center. The HSC’s collaborations and partnerships are too numerous to mention in this brief summary. Service through outreach and collaboration is a core value of the HSC and therefore will continue to be the focal point for resource allocation and academic efforts in the future.