pep talk

Today the Board of Regents approved UTMB’s proposal to build a $61 million medical specialty care center on the mainland.  The 110,000-square-foot facility will be located on a 35-acre plot the university owns near the intersection of Interstate 45 and FM 646, across from the HEB, near the new Best Buy and in the general area of Victory Lakes. The specialty center is scheduled to open in November 2009; construction should start late this summer. It’ll be part of what is already a well-established and well-regarded mainland presence for UTMB.

The Daily News’ Laura Elder ran an article on this May 8 and there was a good editorial by Heber Taylor (wasn’t able to locate for you), and they sparked a question from a blog reader and friend about why we weren’t out there beating the drum about this important and good news. It’s not been a secret; the plans have been discussed, including at the Health System session of our recent “Mondays in March.” At the same time, getting out ahead of Board of Regents approval with anything more concrete than a plan isn’t really such a great idea for us institutionally. We’ll start hearing and seeing more about this now.

I’m looking forward to the start of construction. One thing I’ve heard discussed is the creation of a park & ride lot on a portion of the property, to help facilitate ride-sharing for commuting employees. It’s just an idea, but it might come together quickly as a partial solution to sky-high fuel costs. More on this topic in a future post.

I have a lot to celebrate this week. Topping of the list, I helped welcome two new employees to our office family, and for the first time since sometime in the middle of 2007, my team is at full strength. Even though the vacancies we endured were generally for good reasons (promotions, career advancement, school), they were tough, and I’m thrilled about the people that have chosen UTMB as their new professional homes.

I had the privilege of hitting the road this week to meet with UTMB employees at Shearn Moody Plaza for a visit by Dr. Callender. The meetings are part of something he’s calling “What’s on your Mind” sessions. They are hosted for small groups of 12 to 15 people, first come basis, open to anyone in a geographic area (we’ve been to places like the Lipton Bldg and SON/SAHS). The provost is also hosting similar sessions. I really enjoyed meeting the folks at Shearn, about 350 of us work over there, and they work hard and do important things—such as patient billing and community education—to support the institution. The meetings were positive and folks were engaged, and real issues came up. I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about those folks and the things they had to share.

Finally, UTMB hosted the Office and Administrative Staff Conference this week. I ran over at lunchtime to check on how things were going and see my friends in the EAC, who were hosting a booth at the vendor fair. I caught part of the style show, which featured a lot of UTMB’s leadership on the runway, hamming it up to the delight of the audience. I caught bits and pieces of the rest of the conference on campus TV and the webcast, which was made possible by the crew in EHN and sent out to CMC and other remote sites. Good job to everyone involved. I’m glad the conference is back.