Since its inception, the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine has been a dependable source of well-trained primary care physicians, most of whom remain in the region to launch practices in small towns where there is a woeful shortage of physicians.
While many of the doctors trained by larger, better known medical schools become specialists, Pikeville College’s medical school ranks fourth in the nation in the percentage of graduates who become primary care physicians. And enough of Pikeville’s graduates remain in small communities in this region to earn the School of Osteopathic Medicine a ranking as one of the nation’s top 20 medical schools for rural medicine by the 2009 U.S. News and World Report’s listing of the nation’s top graduate schools.
However, the success of the medical school has not spread to the undergraduate programs at the college located high atop a hill overlooking Pikeville. At the same time the medical school has been operating at capacity, undergraduate enrollment at the college has steadily declined.
Former Gov. Paul Patton, who was recently named president of Pikeville College after former President Michael Looney left after only seven months, has launched a statewide campaign that he hopes will both increase undergraduate enrollment and boost the college’s sagging endowment.
More than 700 undergraduates are enrolled at Pikeville during the current fall semester. While that represents a slight increase, it still is well below the college’s capacity of about 1,000 students.
Patton said he hopes to use the medical school to attract more undergraduate students. He said college administrators realize the medical school serves as an attraction for transfer students and could help boost enrollment. The school is promoting itself as an excellent place where outstanding students can earn both their undergraduate and medical degrees.
Under Patton, the college is doing other things to make the school more attractive to young people. For the first time, students are organizing fraternity and sorority programs, and Patton has brought their efforts to the school’s board of trustees. Adding Greek life to the small school would be a “morale booster,” Britta Gibson, the assistant dean for student services, said.
Located in a small town that lacks a lot of the amenities that appeal to young adults, it is important that the school expand the number of nonacademic programs it offers. Patton said he wants to market the college “a real college experience.”
Despite improvements, the school’s financial picture remains troubled. Last year, the college notched an $835,000 deficit and is about to report another deficit in the fiscal year that ended this past summer. Patton is not taking a salary, and board members last year donated or raised more than $400,000 to help.
While the bulk of Pikeville’s students have always come from the mountains, Patton wants to broaden the base of the school. “The college needs to make itself more attractive to a broader range of students across the state and across the country,” Patton said.
A skilled politician with a proven knack for raising money, Patton may just be what the college needs. While he lacks the multiple academic degrees that many college presidents have, he has the skills to be a great salesman for the tiny college in the town he loves. Those are the skills Pikeville College needs most from its leader if the school is going to attract more students and pull itself out of the financial doldrums.
