University of Minnesota. Medical School

The 1851 territorial legislative act establishing the University of Minnesota provided for a Department of Medicine. This department, as originally instituted, was not an educational department but rather a credentialing board that provided examinations and conferred degrees upon physicians who had learned to practice medicine by studying with a preceptor. In April 1887, Percy Millard, Charles Hewitt, D. Hand, and President Cyrus Northrop petitioned the Board of Regents to abolish the existing department and replace it with a new department that would consist of the College of Medicine and Surgery, the College of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery, and the College of Dentistry all reporting to a single dean. The Regents approved their proposal for a new Department of Medicine in February 1888, establishing what would become the University of Minnesota Medical School. The first class of medical students entered in October 1888.

In 1892, the three separate colleges of the Department of Medicine, the College of Medicine and Surgery, the College of Dentistry, and the College of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery, were restructured to each have its own dean, faculty, and curriculum. The College of Pharmacy was added as the fourth college organized under the Department of Medicine. By 1909 the College of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery had closed and the remaining colleges no longer resided under the administrative structure of the Department of Medicine. In 1913, the College of Medicine and Surgery was renamed the Medical School after a reorganization of the clinical and laboratory faculty under then President George Vincent. In 1931 a new position was created for a dean of Medical Sciences. This position oversaw the dean of the School of Medicine and the directorships for Nursing and the Hospitals. Beginning in 1936, the deanships for Medical Sciences and the School of Medicine were held by the same person, the dean of the College of Medical Sciences. In 1943, the Medical School's Department of Preventative Medicine became the School of Public Health with an administrative director who reported to the dean of the College of Medical Sciences along with the directors of the School of Nursing and the University Hospitals.

In 1970, after the completion of an external review of the health sciences, the Board of Regents adopted a new mission statement for the health sciences and proposed a new structure and governance. The Medical School became one of six schools and colleges to report to a newly formed administrative office, the Vice President for Health Sciences. These schools and colleges, the Medical School, the School of Nursing, The School of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Dentistry, and the College of Veterinary Medicine, comprised the Health Sciences Center, and later, the Academic Health Center. Each dean of the six schools and colleges, including the dean of the Medical School, reported to the Vice President. In 2009, the duties of the dean of the Medical School were incorporated into the role of the Vice President, who took on both titles of Dean of the Medical School and Vice President for Health Sciences.

Medical School Deans:

From the guide to the Medical School records, 1883-2000, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])