UCC expands medical education horizon under leadership of new dean
Students can soon earn a master’s degree facilitated by UCC in nursing and social work, a bachelor’s in social work and a degree in med lab sciences through efforts led by the new Dean of Advanced Medical Program Partnership, Randy Hubbard.
“We hope to solidify something here in the near future and have a couple of programs up and running in the fall, so we can get our local talent in,” Hubbard says. “The ultimate goal is to help our local youth achieve a professional degree and not have to move to, say, Portland or Salem or Seattle or some other place and then when they’re done and graduate, they go to work here.”
Currently, the highest degree available on campus is a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing; Hubbard’s work will change this. As a 26-year veteran in nursing at various medical facilities, Hubbard is excited about expanding medical education at UCC. From the faculty, to the deans, to administration and back to students, Hubbard says UCC has the right “spark.” “I sit in this building, and students come walking by here and they’re super excited to learn and happy. And you know, I just think that they have an excellent opportunity at hand to help affect the greater community in a lot of positive ways,” Hubbard says.
To help facilitate these programs, UCC is discussing the construction of a new medical facilities building possibly starting as early as 2025.
For a strong nursing program such as UCC’s, these new resources would provide several new opportunities for students. Hubbard was partially interested in this job position because of his own experiences as a student, not seeing all the potential different opportunities within his medical field. He wants to help students expand their choices.
Hubbard also wants to help local medical employers with students ready to join the workforce. “We’ve had deficits in healthcare for many, many years. The pandemic came through, and we lost a lot more people. People either retired or left the field in general. It’s just been a real struggle for retention and recruitment, especially in the small towns like Roseburg,” Hubbard says.
Hubbard has a Bachelor of Science from Oregon State University, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Linfield University and a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management from Marylhurst University. More information on the program is expected to release in the following months.
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