The president of Pikeville University said demolition has begun on the site where a new dental school will be built. Burton Webb said they plan to begin admitting students in the summer of ’26, with the first classes held in other buildings.
“We have been able to raise nearly $40 million for this project so far, and the balance of what it will cost to put up the building is still a little bit of a mystery, because we don't know the effect that tariffs are going to have on steel.”
Webb said graduates will help address a serious shortage of dentists in eastern Kentucky and Appalachia.
“The goal for us is the same as the goal that we've been able to execute with both the medical school and the College of Optometry. Roughly one-third of our alumni from the College of Osteopathic Medicine are still practicing in the commonwealth, and nearly half of them practice in rural areas in central Appalachia.”
Webb said he expects good news soon about a U.S. Department of Agriculture low-interest rural development loan they’ve requested – perhaps in the next few days.
