Planned UI/Carle Med School Will Go On Without Chancellor

Plans for a new medical school at the University of Illinois' Urbana campus will continue even without Chancellor Phyllis Wise.

Wise, who suddenly announced her resignation yesterday, had been the driving force behind an engineering-focused college of medicine, set to open in 2017.

The medical school will be a collaboration between the U of I and Carle Hospital. Stephanie Beever, Carle's senior vice president for strategy, says the project is far enough along that it will go on without Chancellor Wise.

"The chancellor was very instrumental in creating the vision and the opportunity," Beever said. "She spent a lot of time over the last year and a half really getting people excited about the potential and what this could bring to our care delivery process."

Beever says a search committee will begin looking for a dean of medicine this fall, and that plans to accept first-year students in two years are still on schedule.

Wise fought for the new college of medicine over concerns that it would take resources from UIC’s existing medical school and teaching hospital.