Even though she’s the founding dean of Eastern Washington University’s recently created College of Health Science & Public Health, which began operating last fall on the higher-education campus east of downtown Spokane, Laureen O’Hanlon doesn’t feel like she’s starting with a blank slate.

Noting that programs now consolidated there had been operating here for years, although in a more scattered fashion, she says she sees her role more as strengthening, expanding, raising public awareness of, and bolstering funding for those health ed offerings and the new college.

“I get to represent these programs like they haven’t been represented before,” O’Hanlon says.

She adds that she’s excited about the challenge, and says, “I do think we have the potential to grow both our undergraduate and graduate programs.”

EWU’s College of Health Science & Public Health is comprised of several nationally-accredited programs, led by about 90 faculty and staff members. The programs it offers include dental hygiene, Doctor of Physical Therapy, occupational therapy, communications disorders, Master of Public Health, Health Services Administration certificate, and Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE). 

The latter four-year program, based within the University of Washington School of Dentistry, offers the first year of instruction to a small group of students each year and is designed to develop dentists who will make a personal commitment to practicing in rural and underserved communities.

The college occupies space in the 120,000-square-foot structure at 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd. that originally was known as the Phase 1 Classroom Building and that since then has been renamed the Eastern Washington University Center.

The new college’s administrative offices, Health Services Administration program, and Master of Public Health degree program all are located in that building, on the east end of the Riverpoint campus. Also located in that building are EWU’s College of Business and Public Administration and its Inland Northwest Center for Writers creative writing program, where students can earn a Master of Fine Arts through the university’s College of Arts, Letters & Education.

Other programs offered through the College of Health Science & Public Health, including dental hygiene, physical and occupational therapy, communication disorders, and the RIDE program, occupy space in the Health Sciences Building, at 310 N. Riverpoint Blvd., on the west side of campus.

One of the university’s programs there already providing considerable direct public benefit is its large dental hygiene clinic, a self-supported, nonprofit teaching facility operated by university faculty, staff, and students that treats thousands of patients a year. 

Students provide limited services there, such as exams, X-rays, teeth cleaning, and small fillings, under the supervision of registered dental hygienists and licensed dentists.

Another program providing similar direct services to the public, as part of the communication disorders program, is a university hearing and speech clinic. It’s a training facility for students preparing for careers in speech-language pathology. It provides screenings, evaluations, and rehabilitation for patients of widely varying ages with a range of communication problems.

Break-out figures weren’t available on the number of students enrolled in programs offered just through the new college, but the overall EWU headcount on the Spokane campus averaged about 2,300 students during the 2014-15 academic year, with a high of nearly 2,500 in the winter quarter, a university spokesman says.

O’Hanlon says the new college already is finding itself cramped for space at the downtown campus, so she’d like to see more space developed there in the future. She says she’s pleased, though, with the breadth of and quality of the programs EWU is offering there.

O’Hanlon says she’s also been impressed by Spokane since starting in her position here in July.

Of her first three months on the job, she says, “I’ve loved it. The energy and innovation around health care in Spokane is dynamic. It’s inspiring. The engine is going somewhere very positive. Spokane has taught me a lot already.”

Originally from the San Diego area, she holds a bachelor’s degree in communication disorders and a master’s degree in speech-language pathology, both from San Diego State University, and a doctorate degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Kansas.

Before coming to Spokane, she had served as the interim associate dean and administrator in charge of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University-Sacramento and as associate dean in the College of Continuing Education there. A tenured professor since 2003, she chaired CSU-Sacramento’s Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology for seven years prior to her service in the associate dean positions.

She says her desire to become the dean of a college, rather than continuing to serve in associate and interim roles, led her to apply for the EWU opening.

Documents outlining O’Hanlon’s professional background indicate she has made community service an integral part of her professional life for more than a decade, having received service, research, and creativity awards from such entities as the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the National Institute of Health.

She also has extensive experience in fundraising, with her efforts having resulted in notable increases in gifting for her former department at CSU-Sacramento, and she says fundraising will be a priority focus for her at EWU.

“It has to be part of my job,” she says.

Among her other top priorities, O’Hanlon says, she will focus on increasing interprofessional programs to promote better patient care than traditional silo-structured training can provide, and she’ll also be looking to raise awareness of the college’s program offerings, with a goal of increasing the number of first-generation students who choose to seek an education there.

She also would like to see the college add new programs on the downtown campus, but says, “The thing is to find things the community needs without being redundant, that we can bring our unique talents to.”

The new college is in the process of switching some programs from quarters to semesters so it can blend align them more closely with those of Washington State University, which has led the development of the campus over the last couple of decades.

The programs offered within the new college formerly were part of the College of Science, Health and Engineering, which later was renamed, and the College of Business and Public Administration.

In announcing the creation of the new college in April 2014, then-EWU President Rodolfo Arevalo said the college would “elevate our current programs, initiate research in the health arena, promote the development of additional health-related fields of study and expand degree options.”

Arevalo said, “Community outreach and research will be vital components of the curriculum, which means Eastern graduates will be uniquely suited to meet the needs of the health care industry and fuel economic development.”

He said the college’s creation also will solidify important academic and community partnerships, such as EWU’s relationship with WSU Spokane and the health science mission in the University District.

He added that the college “will become the center point for Eastern’s development of expanded partnerships with the University of Washington School of Dentistry, the health-related programs of the Community Colleges of Spokane and the development of public school partnerships with magnet schools related to health professions.”

WSU Spokane officially transferred ownership of the Phase 1 Classroom Building to EWU Spokane in early June of last year, with representatives of both universities and state lawmakers joining for a ceremony at the building to recognize the transaction.

The arrangement was finalized following state legislation involving two other buildings on campus, including the former Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology (SIRTI) Building. That building, just across the street from the Phase I building, later became known as the Innovate Washington Building, occupied by a state economic organization that eventually lost state funding. WSU Spokane then took over that building, freeing up space for EWU Spokane to fully utilize the Phase 1 building.

Between the university’s main campus in Cheney, located 17 miles southwest of Spokane, and its Spokane campus, it offers 135 fields of study, nine master’s degrees, 12 graduate certificates, 39 graduate programs, one educational specialist degree, and one applied doctorate.

EWU’s fall quarter began Sept. 23, five days after Move-In Day, when its residence halls opened to a record freshman class of more than 1,700 students.