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V O L . X X X N O. X I V J U N E 2 4 , 2 0 2 4 16 H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N / P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T A s the University of New England's new College of Business prepares to host stu- dents in its first full year, its first dean, Norm O'Reilly, shares some highlights about the business school and what he hopes to accomplish. O'Reilly joins UNE, effective July 1, with two decades of leadership experi- ence in higher education, including his most recent role as dean of the Portland- based Graduate School of Business at the University of Maine. Prior to coming to UMaine, O'Reilly was assistant dean of execu- tive programs for the University of Guelph's business and economics school, department chair for sports administration at Ohio University's business college and the director of the sports administration school at Laurentian University. "e chance to be a founding dean is something new," says O'Reilly. "As much as it can be in the academic world, it's a startup, which is great. I'm very excited about that." e UNE College of Business launched in June 2023. e university already has programs, including business administration, sports management and outdoor innovation business, which have been combined to form this college. e university will add market- ing, finance and accounting programs to the new business school, as well as centers focused on sports, sales and other areas. O'Reilly says that in addition to him and nine other faculty members, the business school has added four faculty members and three additional staff members. "We have big plans," says O'Reilly. "In terms of vision, the best way to describe it would be to make it a very compre- hensive business school. UNE has a great reputation in the health care sector. UNE is very well-known in the medical school and all of the surrounding schools in the health care field. It is an immedi- ate spot to kind of build on that." e business school plans to tackle the workforce shortage in Maine. "We have an array of programs that are doing research and are helping with the talent problem that Maine has," O'Reilly says. "We have trouble attract- ing people to Maine to work. ere are certain key areas of accounting, for example, where we don't have the talent we need. I'm really looking at working from a southern Maine perspective to fill that. One of the things that at the University of New England, the student base comes from all across the country, it is a well-known brand of university. Part of it will be to attract students from far and wide to come and stay here and help us with those pieces." e business school will largely be located in Biddeford, but will have a presence in Portland as well as its campus in Morocco as part of its global programs. Update on med school campus Along Stevens Avenue in the Deering Center area of Portland will be the new home of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, which will share space with other health profes- sions and health care programs. It's now under construction. e building should be completed by the end of this calendar year. e Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences is scheduled to open in July 2025. e campus is oriented around get- ting students involved at an early stage. "Our medical school curricu- lum is very hands-on," says Dr. Jane Carreiro, dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine. "In addition to the high-tech classroom for lectures and presentations, there are special group rooms where students work in a team-based setting using clinical cases and problems to learn how to work together to help patients." e sustainably designed 110,000- square-foot building will also house the UNE Center to Advance Interprofessional Education and Practice, which prepares students to work collab- oratively and across disciplines to help improve patient outcomes in today's team-based health care system. Students learn how to take histories and interact with patients in a com- passionate, competent manner in the so-called standardized patients area. Standardized patients are community members who are trained to act like patients with various medical condi- tions in a mock-clinical setting. Students receive feedback on their performance from faculty and the standardized patients. is provides community members with a chance to guide how physicians are trained. e building is connected to the Arthur P. Girard Innovation Hall, which houses the Interprofessional Simulation P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY University of New England on a HOT STREAK Norm O'Reilly will take over as the first dean of the University of New England College of Business, effective July 1. F O C U S New business school and New business school and new med school campus new med school campus highlight upgrades highlight upgrades B y A l e x i s W e l l s B y A l e x i s W e l l s

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