Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Renaming Hospital Hill

Last fall a list of issues was sent by the Hospital Hill faculty and staff [see the post here]. One of the issues was a proposed name change for the Hospital Hill Campus that would more clearly reflect UMKC’s presence and mission. Hospital Hill is a location, but does not say anything about what we do there. Out of preliminary discussions a proposal has emerged to change the name of the campus to “The UMKC Health Sciences Campus at Hospital Hill.”

The process to complete the official naming involves a wide campus distribution of the proposed name with opportunity for discussion and feedback. We would like to hear from you about this issue. Here is some of the feedback we have received so far.
  • Many at UMKC support the name change and like the new name because it uses wording that not only indicates the location but also reflects all the schools on the campus (Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy) and their educational focus.

  • Some think the name (UMKCHSCHH) is too long and cumbersome. They proposed:
    “Health Sciences Campus”
    “UMKC Health Sciences”
    “UMKC Health Sciences Campus”
    “UMKC Health Sciences Center”
    “UMKC Bio-Health Campus”
    “Allied Health Center”

  • Others suggested “Hospital Hill Health Sciences Campus at UMKC” or “UMKC Health and Biomedical Sciences Campus”

  • Some have asked if this new name reflects Children’s Mercy and Truman Hospital as part of the campus.

  • Some are concerned about financial impact of a name change and wonder if this is a priority for UMKC in light of the current budget cut expectations.

We invite you to send your comments on the proposed name change. Just click on the “comments” link below. We ask you to reply by January 30th.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like all the suggestions except one: Allied Health Center. Technically, by strict definition, the word "Allied" is correct and appropriate. However, I think by connotation it is not the best word to use, particularly since regionally there is the KU School of Allied Health, and the departments within are everything health-related that are NOT a part of the medical, nursing and pharmacy schools. Those are:

Clinical Laboratory Science
Cytotechnology
Diagnostic Cardiac Sonography
Diagnostic Ultrasound and Vascular Technology
Dietetics & Nutrition
Health Information Mgmt
Molecular Biotechnology
Nuclear Medicine Technology
Nurse Anesthesia
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
Rehabilitation Science
Respiratory Care
Speech-Language Pathology
Therapeutic Science

Anonymous said...

I don't see what's wrong with 'Hospital Hill Campus.' All of the other names are too long.

I don't understand the argument that "The term ‘hospital hill’ is really a location within the Kansas City area and not reflective of who we are." Volker Blvd. is also a location within the Kansas City area. It also says nothing about "who we are," but no one is suggesting changing that name.

It's actually a good idea for these names to be reflective of the outside community, since one of the biggest problems we face in our insularity.

Anonymous said...

Huh? Seriously, why are we putting any energy and resources into such petty matters while the university is facing a fiscal crisis??? How about trying to figure out how to fund our staff here first.

Anonymous said...

This is not the time for a name change. The cost exceeds the benefit. I like Hospital Hill.