The Eastern Kentucky University Board of Regents recently approved a new, four-year contract for President David McFaddin.
When asked about what the next four years will hold for the university, McFaddin said a lot of focus will continue to be on the new osteopathic medicine program.
“This is kind of a generational project. Probably, from start to finish, we'll spend a decade of time working on bringing this to fruition and bringing the first class of students here and really starting to shift that narrative around healthcare in Kentucky,” McFaddin said. “Trying to really carve out a larger footprint for EKU to have an overall impact on the health and well-being of Kentucky.”
The university recently received a grant of over $100,000 dollars from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. This is for the purchase of new equipment for healthcare workforce training.
McFaddin said this will help the school update its equipment to keep students current with the technology used in their career fields.
Another subject on the mind of EKU's president is the fact that Louisville city officials recently signed a letter of intent to purchase property to serve as a first responder training facility. A new police training center is now operating in Madisonville, in western Kentucky, too.
Previously, officers from every county in the commonwealth have traveled to Richmond to receive the state-mandated 20 weeks of basic training. That training happens at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Center on Eastern Kentucky University's campus.
McFaddin said the opening of other facilities should not impact the university, because the training center is owned and run by the state. McFaddin said the university and the center have a long and strong relationship.
“The partnership with the commissioner there, over many generations, as I have served here at the institution, we've had multiple commissioners. It's a great partnership, and we know it's going to continue to be strong here on this campus. It continues to seem as though there's a lot of conversation about trying to get that training more local for individuals in northern, western, or central parts of the state,” he said.
The first class from the training program in Madisonville graduated in June of last year. This inaugural class included 21 Kentuckians from 17 different law enforcement agencies across the state.
Hear more from EKU President David McFaddin, later in Today's Interview, on WEKU.
