January 23, 2007 Minutes

MINUTES
University of Minnesota
Academic Health Center
Deans Council
January 23, 2007

The regular meeting of the Deans of the Academic Health Center was held on Tuesday, January 23 at 2:00 p.m. in 475 ChRC.

Members present:
Frank Cerra, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences
Connie Delaney, Dean, School of Nursing
John Finnegan, Dean, School of Public Health
Patrick Lloyd, Dean, School of Dentistry
Deborah Powell, Dean, Medical School
Marilyn Speedie, Dean, College of Pharmacy
Linda Watson, Director, Health Sciences Libraries

Staff present:
Terry Bock, Chief of Staff
Jennifer Cieslak, Special Assistant to the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, AHC
Mary Koppel, Assistant Vice President, Public Affairs
Beth Nunnally, Chief Financial Officer, AHC
Mark Paller, Assistant Vice President for Research, AHC

Guests Present
Charles Christiansen, Director, Center for Allied Health Programs
Kristin Berns, Change Management Consultant, Office of Human Resources
Mike Volna, Associate Vice President, Controllers Office

Review and Approval of Minutes – January 9, 2007
The council approved the minutes of January 9, 2007.

General Enterprise Financial Systems
Mike Volna and Kristin Berns presented an overview of the Enterprise Financial System.  The project is being aligned with strategic positioning.  Its guiding principles are to utilize University staff on the project teams, use consultants judiciously, minimize modifications to streamline implementation and reduce maintenance costs, change policy and procedure before modifying the system, and include input from the University finance community.  The new financial system is needed because the CUFS system, which was installed in 1991, is no longer supported by the vendor and puts the University at risk.  The project is currently in the functional design phase.  System development should be completed by January-March 2008 with training roll-out beginning in April 2008.  Mike and Kristin also outlined the process for designing the structure and staffing of financial services in academic and administrative units.  That process will begin next March.

Center for Allied Health Programs
Charles Christiansen provided an update on the Center for Allied Health Programs.  He is splitting his time between Rochester and the Twin Cities.  The top floors of the Galleria in Rochester have been leased by the University for the University of Minnesota, Rochester.  Frank Blalark has been hired as the Director of Student Services for the Center.  He has been busy learning how the various systems work together within and between the programs in the Center and two performance sites.  Chuck has been actively meeting with key stakeholders and partners.   Frank Cerra stated that he is working with Glenn Forbes on establishing a Clinical Laboratory Science Taskforce.  He would like to get course intraoperability so students can move easily between the two performance sites.   A consent proposal to change the name of the Medical Technology program to Clinical Laboratory Science will be submitted to the Board of Regents for approval in the next few months.

Greater Minnesota Strategy
Jennifer Cieslak distributed the Greater Minnesota Strategy document for review.  The document outlines community-campus partnerships such as the Minnesota Area Health Education Center, the Rural Physician Associate Program, and many additional programs in the AHC schools/colleges.  Frank Cerra stated that the models for the healthcare workforce are moving forward and the programs are high quality.  He commented that the legislators continue to ask for this information.

Canadian-American Conference
Barbara Brandt and John Gilbert are co-chairing an American-Canadian dialogue on Interprofessional Health Education on October 24-26, 2007 in Minneapolis.  The conference will explore the link between interprofessional education and collaborative patient-centered practice.

Center for Interprofessional Education
Jennifer Cieslak asked the deans to send her the name of one faculty and one staff member from their school/college by February 9 to serve on the Center for Interprofessional Education Advisory Group.  This group will provide advice on the direction and priorities of the center.  She is looking for faculty and staff with demonstrated commitment to interprofessional education. 

AHC Academic Council
Jennifer is also looking for nominations for the AHC Academic Council.  Frank Cerra stated that the council is important for the review of new professional programs.  He thought the group would meet monthly.  Deborah Powell felt the nominated faculty should have strategic level experience.  Frank Cerra discussed the AHC Center for Interprofessional Education and the AHC Academic Council to the AHC-FCC meeting on January 20.  He stated they were very supportive.

Information Architect
Frank Cerra stated that the idea of an information architect was born during a concept discussion around the health informatics appraisal of the CTSA.  This position would reside in the Senior Vice President’s office and would coordinate the development of health information across the University and partners such as Fairview Health Services, UMPhysicians, and the Veterans Administration.  The appropriate candidate should have an understanding of health informatics, tools of intraoperability, creative solutions to support networks, and strong understanding of technology.  This position is not primarily a technical one, however.  The deans felt it was important for this position to coordinate function and facilitate synergy with academic platforms, without silos, and help with designing functionality.  They also felt that strong communication across the AHC was important.

The meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathy Anderson
Staff to the Academic Health Center Deans Council