BLUEFIELD, Va. — Bluefield College’s trustees began a process to name a board of directors for its new dental school during their recent annual fall meeting.
Bluefield's campus is about three miles from the site of its proposed dental school.
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In September Bluefield announced plans to launch the school, which it hopes will impact Appalachian communities underserved by oral care providers.
When classes begin in the fall of 2015, the school will be one of only three in the central Appalachian region, and apparently the only one in the nation operated by a college with Baptist ties.
The initiative is a collaboration with the Tazewell County board of supervisors and its industrial development authority, which are providing facilities in The Bluestone, the county’s new 680-acre regional business and technology center. The Bluestone is about three and a half miles from the college’s main campus.
The new school will offer the doctor of dental medicine degree, one of two standard degrees — the other is the doctor of dental surgery degree — conferred by dental schools in the United States. In addition, it will have the potential to provide programs in dental hygiene and dental therapy.
Michael DuVal
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During its fall meeting, trustees named board member Michael DuVal of Roanoke to chair a committee assigned the task of recommending 10 prospects to serve on the dental school’s board of directors. DuVal is pastor of Journey Church in Roanoke.
Jack Marcom
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The board also approved increases in tuition for both traditional and inSPIRE adult degree completion students for the 2013-2014 academic year. Next fall, traditional students at BC will pay 5.4 percent more in tuition from $21,060 per year to $22,190 annually. Adult degree completion students will pay three 3.0 percent more from $335 per credit hour to $345 per credit. As approved by the board, traditional students will also pay 3.1 percent more in room in board in 2013-2014 from $8,060 per year to $ 8,310 annually.
In other business, trustees recognized departing board member Jack Marcom, who has been a trustee since 2003. A retired pastor from Fredericksburg, Va., Marcom brought more than 40 years of service as a minister and 30 years as a military chaplain to his board work. A 1962 Bluefield College alumnus, he also served as chair of the search committee that selected David Olive to serve as BC’s ninth president.
Chris Shoemaker (cshoemaker@bluefield.edu) is director of public relations and marketing for Bluefield College.