June 30, 2021
By News Director Jared Atha
Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s College of Pharmacy in Weatherford and Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate to serve students and the citizens of Oklahoma through expansion of rural healthcare education.
The understanding was signed by SWOSU President Dr. Randy Beutler and OSU-CHS President Dr. Kayse Shrum, who will take over as president of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater on July 1.
SWOSU and OSU-CHS will explore options for a dual-degree partnership involving SWOSU’s Doctor of Pharmacy program and the OSU-CHS Physician Assistant program.
SWOSU recently received the largest single donation in the history of the university, $5 million, from longtime SWOSU benefactors Jerry and Margaret Hodge of Amarillo. That gift is enabling SWOSU to take the next steps toward construction of a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to healthcare education and pharmacy.
SWOSU and OSU-CHS will, among other things, cooperate on intra-professional education opportunities through electronic or physical means at the earliest possible opportunity. The two higher education institutions will be looking at possibilities and planning methods to utilize selected clinical rotations from one institution’s program to meet requirements for clinical rotations of the other institution’s program.
President Beutler said the two entities will explore other methods in which SWOSU can collaborate with OSU-CHS to expand rural healthcare opportunities for students and citizens, including the physical expansion of the OSU-CHS P.A. program into western Oklahoma at a site on SWOSU’s Weatherford campus, when OSU-CHS’ P.A. accreditation and funding levels allow consideration of such an expansion.
