Urbana Campus Med School One Step Closer To Reality

The University of Illinois’s Urbana campus took one step closer on Monday to a launching a new medical school.

The campus academic Senate voted to approve Chancellor Phyllis Wise's proposal to create an engineering-focused medical school in partnership with Carle hospital. The vote is the first formal step in the process, and Wise says the plan is gaining momentum.

"I think the medical school was very strongly endorsed," she said.  "So that’s the step that the academic senate needs to take so that was very strong."

Wise has called the proposed medical school a "game changer," but the Chicago campus offered an alternative plan in recent months.

U of I President Robert Easter is scheduled to weigh-in on both proposals at next month's meeting of the Board of Trustees.