Student Life 

With the annual Groovin' in the Grove 5K Run and Fun Walk just days away, I've evaluated that both my body and my finish time will not be on par as last year's 38:43 time.

Last Friday, the White Coat Ceremony for the 700+ first-year students on the Glendale Campus was held in the new Auditorium Building. And, when I say "new," I mean that this was literally the first event ever held in this impressive facility.

MWU recently announced an exciting new partnership with USA Basketball and the City of Glendale, whereby we will develop a sports medicine clinic for the new Olympic Basketball training facility here in Arizona.

MWU recently headed to Las Vegas for the annual meeting of the American Osteopathic Association. This national conference provides CME courses, leadership meetings for our students, a research competition for our students and faculty, and many opportunities for us to reconnect with our alumni.

Two Fridays ago, the first year students at the Downers Grove Campus received their first white coats at a ceremony shared with families, friends, and faculty. This event is one of the most meaningful we host, primarily because it is such an important day in the lives of our students.

MWU's matriculating classes of 2008 were welcomed to campus today for the first day of orientation. The 535 new students starting in the fall quarter joined 240 students who began classes in the summer session for a total of 775 new students. This is by far the largest entering class in the 12-year history of MWU.

They came from 30 high schools throughout Arizona, and even a few from California and New Mexico. For eight days this summer, 48 students in the 2008 MWU Health Careers Institute got a crash course in the life of practicing health professionals as well as students in many medical fields.

What a night! Midwestern University participated in its first Relay for Life event held at the local high school in Downers Grove, Ill. The Relay for Life is an American Cancer Society event, which brings together the neighboring communities to fight back against cancer and honor those that have survived and those that have passed.

This week marked the summer orientation programs at both of our campuses. On Monday and Tuesday, the Downers Grove Campus welcomed 48 physical therapy and 86 physician assistant studies students. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Glendale Campus greeted 130 pharmacy, 85 physician assistant studies, and 20 nurse anesthesia students. Every seat was filled for all of these programs as a result of another successful recruitment and admissions cycle.

Despite the overcast skies and chilly temperatures, the Downers Grove Campus was in a celebratory mood today as MWU hosted commencement ceremonies for the College of Health Sciences and Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.

For all of the avid readers of my blog, as well as my mother, you'll recall that I have been working on my doctoral dissertation over the past three years. I am pleased, and relieved, to say that I will graduate with a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Loyola University Chicago on May 8, 2008. Beyond this embarrassing self-congratulations, I also wanted to share a few highlights from my dissertation. My study is entitled, "Female Osteopathic Medical Students: When the Minority Becomes the Majority."

It is finally spring, after a long, snowy winter in Chicago and a mild, rainy season in Phoenix. On our campuses, students are back from spring break and excited about the last quarter of classes or rotations before many of them get a summer break. While spring signals the beginning of the end of the school year, it also is a time of many year-end special events.

After a week back in Phoenix, I have had time to reflect upon my four day trip to Guatemala as part of MWU's DOCARE medical mission team. The experience remains very powerful and one that I recommend to any MWU alumni or students or volunteers.

Today was the first day of the second week for the MWU DOCARE Medical Mission in Guatemala. The buses loaded up with about 60 MWU students, alumni, physicians, and volunteers for the one hour drive to San Vincente Pacaya, a town located outside of Guatemala City and near the Pacaya volcano. The day was an experience I will never forget.

Buenos Noches a Antigua, Guatemala! It was another gorgeous day in Guatemala with more sights, sounds, tastes, and experiences to enjoy. The highlights for the day were the lenten processional that lasted more than 12 hours and the MWU medical mission orientation meeting.

After arriving in Guatemala City last night, we drove 45 minutes to Antigua, the ancient capitol of the country, and our beautiful hotel, the Lions Inn. First impressions: beautiful country surrounded my mountains and an active volcano; constant singing of the quetzal birds; friendly people; bustling city with shops, open markets, and restaurants of all kinds.

Tomorrow, I head off to the Central Highlands of Guatemala to participate on the Midwestern University team at our annual medical mission. I will spend two days of sightseeing and one day at the clinic. My plan is to find an Internet cafe in town and write blog entries about my experiences and insights from the MWU student and faculty participants.

Midwestern University has been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for 2007. This awards program recognizes colleges and universities "for extraordinary contributions to service in their communities."

Prospective students and applicants often ask what the "typical" activities are on campus. To be honest, not being a student, I hardly ever attend any of our student events. However, I do get a daily email from our Office of Student Services in Downers Grove listing the happenings for the week. Some of them look pretty interesting. Here are the highlights:

If you ask any of our students what they like about MWU, I would venture that nearly all would say that it is our outstanding faculty and their abililty to teach. We are proud to be a University committed to teaching the next generation of health care professionals. We are also proud to be able to support our students' and faculty's interest in research. To that end, we have established the Kenneth A. Suarez Summer Research Program, which provides funding for medical students to pursue their research interests during their summer break.