On the Kirksville campus of A.T. Still University, Chair of the ATSU Board of Trustees Dr. Carl G. Bynum and University President Jack Magruder have announced that the proposed dental program in Kirksville will move forward. They said the board met this past weekend in Mesa, Ariz., where the other campus of the school is located, and made the decision to move forward in Kirksville.
“The A.T. Still University Board of Trustees unanimously supports bringing a branch of ATSU’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health to the University’s Kirksville campus. We further encourage President Magruder to take the necessary next steps to move this important project forward,” Bynum says. “We also advise the President that capital requests must be approved by the Board and that the program must achieve accreditation from the Commission on Dental Accreditation and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.”
Magruder added, “A dental program on the Kirksville campus of ATSU is perfectly aligned with the mission of the University and the vision of the Board to address an unmet patient need in Missouri and to serve rural locations and underserved populations.”
Magruder thanked the residents of Kirksville and the region for their generous support for establishing the dental program — more than $1 million in donations to jump-start the program.
The Kirksville program will be a branch campus of the dental education at ATSU’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health in Arizona.
Students will study in Kirksville for the first two years then rotate into training slots at locations around the state.
ATSU’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCOM), Truman State University, Moberly Area Community College, and the Kirksville R-3 School District are also being discussed as possible partners in the project.
