New York, NY – New York Institute of Technology's Board of Trustees approved a resolution Friday to establish a second site of its College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University.

The board's vote comes two weeks after a similar vote by the board of trustees at Arkansas State University, known as A-State, a public university in Jonesboro, AR.

Both A-State and NYIT will now seek approvals from various higher education and medical accrediting bodies. If approved, about 115 students are expected to enroll in the program as early as August 2016.

"We have developed a great respect for and excellent working relationship with the leaders of Arkansas State University and are delighted that NYIT will bring a new medical school to their campus," said NYIT President Edward Guiliano, Ph.D. "We will work together to develop the human capacity in healthcare in one of the most underserved regions in the United States. We all feel proud to serve the public, higher education, and the medical community through this rewarding endeavor."

NYIT and A-State are establishing relationships with hospitals and clinics in the region to offer clerkship and residency opportunities. The goal, said NYIT Vice President of Health Sciences and Medical Affairs Barbara Ross-Lee, DO, is to have graduates remain in the region to meet the state's demand for physicians and to address the state residents' unmet health needs.

"NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine has a distinguished record of producing family physicians and internists," said Ross-Lee. "With this new medical school, we're sharing our experience with a part of the country with a recognized health need and primary care physician shortage."

The new medical school would be housed in Wilson Hall on the A-State campus.

"Arkansas State has committed to a $4 million dollar investment in renovating a building centrally located on their campus to house our medical school," said Guiliano. "NYIT will invest at least as much in start-up staffing and more, beyond the obviously intellectual capital and academic expertise to launch the College of Osteopathic Medicine. All of us—NYIT, A-State, prospective medical students, and future patients in Arkansas—will benefit from this new venture."

Tim Hudson, the A-State chancellor, has said the demand and opportunity make the project particularly enticing.

"We're excited that the NYIT board authorized our joint plans for an osteopathic medical school at Arkansas State," says Hudson. "We have enormous respect for Dr. Guiliano, Dr. Ross-Lee and the rest of the NYIT leadership for their success in developing one of the largest and best D.O. schools in the country. We couldn't ask for a better partner to help us educate physicians and meet the growing primary care needs of northeast Arkansas and the Delta."

Arkansas has one medical school at the University of Arkansas. The nearest osteopathic medical schools are in Kansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. Last year, A-State commissioned a study about the feasibility of opening new osteopathic medical school. The study, released earlier this year, said the new school would help meet the demand for primary care physicians and bring an estimated $70 million in economic development to Northeast Arkansas.

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About NYIT

New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has 13,000 students attending campuses on Long Island and Manhattan, online, and at its global campuses. NYIT sponsors 11 NCAA Division II programs and one Division I team.

Led by President Edward Guiliano, NYIT is guided by its mission to provide career-oriented professional education, offer access to opportunity to all qualified students, and support applications-oriented research that benefits the larger world. To date, nearly 95,000 graduates have received degrees from NYIT. For more information, visit nyit.edu.

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