Philip Pumerantz

Philip Pumerantz, PhD

Philip Pumerantz (born November 3, 1932), founding president of Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU), was the second-longest-serving university president in the United States at the time of his retirement, in September 2015. Now in its 39th year, WesternU owes its existence and success largely to Pumerantz's leadership, as he developed a modern, state-of-the-art establishment of higher education in the health care professions by overcoming many challenges.

Life and education

Pumerantz was born on November 3, 1932, in New London, Connecticut, to Harry and Pauline Pumerantz. He attended New London and Hartford schools, and upon graduation from Bulkeley High School, enlisted in the Army, where he was assigned to military patrol duty at bases in Germany. He was honorably discharged after two years of service, and returned to the United States, where he enrolled at the University of Connecticut, eventually earning bachelor's and master's degrees in history and education. Beginning in 1959, he taught history at Waterford High School, where he also had corollary duties in administration, and served as a supervising teacher for student teachers from the University of Connecticut and Central Connecticut State College (now Central Connecticut State University).^[1] In September 1963, he was named assistant principal at Tomlinson Junior High School in Fairfield, Conn., and during his tenure there also studied for his PhD in education from the University of Connecticut, which he was awarded in 1967. Pumerantz then joined the faculty of the University of Bridgeport's School of Education, and co-founded UB's College of Continuing Education.^[2] After a few years as an educational consultant, during which time he and a colleague established a college in Puerto Rico that became Caribbean University, he took on a new role as director of education for the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in Chicago.

Establishment of COMP

In the mid-1970s, Pumerantz's experience and accomplishments caught the eye of a small group of osteopathic physicians in California on the hunt for a leader. Battered by years of second-class citizen status – even threatened with extinction when their ability to license new osteopaths was taken away by voters in 1962—the state's osteopathic practitioners, armed with a resurrected ability to license following a California Supreme Court decision, had joined forces to bring an osteopathic medical school to the state. Pumerantz, though officially behind the idea in his AOA role, didn't think a new osteopathic school in California stood a chance. "There was just too much lined up against it, and too many people who said it couldn't be done," he remembered.^[3] But then he started getting regular phone calls from a who's who of California osteopathic physicians—Richard Eby, Ethan Allen, Viola Fryman, and others—seeking his expertise. They eventually pitched him the idea that he was the right person to establish a new educational foothold for their profession in California. "I had a list of reasons why it wouldn’t work, but when I started to think about it later, I realized a list of obstacles really was a plan to starting such a school," Pumerantz recalled. "You just needed to find a way around the obstacles."^[4] Pumerantz finally agreed to lead the new school, and on the day after Labor Day 1977, a president and his college—the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific—were born on a largely abandoned shopping mall in downtown Pomona, California. COMP's first class of 36 osteopathic medical students was admitted in October 1978. Despite a host of hurdles – including newly proposed anti-osteopathy legislation, the demands of accrediting bodies, and resistance from local businessmen who wanted retail firms, rather than a nonprofit school, to be in the empty mall spaces—Pumerantz and his allies had by that point acquired the former JC Penney building to go along with his first small office. They'd built classrooms, offices and an anatomy lab in a few thousand square feet of former retail buildings.

Growth into WesternU

Thirty-one of COMP's inaugural class of 36 students graduated in 1982 as Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine. Over the ensuing years, the medical school grew, eventually adding a health sciences curriculum that grew to become the founding program of a second college, the College of Allied Health Professions (CAHP), which also includes the university's physician assistant and physical therapy programs. COMP was restructured into Western University of Health Sciences in 1996, and now is composed of nine colleges: the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (founding college); the College of Allied Health Professions; the College of Pharmacy; the College of Graduate Nursing; the College of Veterinary Medicine; the College of Dental Medicine; the College of Optometry; the College of Podiatric Medicine; and the Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences.

More than 3,900 students currently are enrolled, and the May 2016 University Commencement increased the number of alumni to more than 12,500 health sciences professionals who practice across the country and around the world.^[5] WesternU also employs more than 1,100 staff and faculty, making it the fourth-largest employer in Southern California's Pomona Valley. WesternU educates its students by instilling in them a philosophy championed by Dr. Pumerantz from the time he conceptualized the university: "The discipline of learning. The art of caring." He also has created a unique environment that fosters innovation and collaboration. WesternU was among the first schools in the nation to create what has become a highly regarded Internet-based advanced practice nursing and nurse practitioner program. The College of Pharmacy offers an innovative curriculum that emphasizes academic and experiential learning by operating on a unique block system. The Harris Family Center for Disability & Health Policy (CDHP) works to enhance health professions education and to improve access for people with disabilities to health, health education, and health care services. The University also is home to Southern California's first and only College of Veterinary Medicine, which further distinguishes itself by utilizing the problem-based learning curriculum and consistently operating under a reverence-for-life philosophy. The WesternU Patient Care Center, which opened in May 2010, receives more than 20,000 patient encounters each year. This state of the art facility includes seven specialized centers – the Dental Center, Eye Care Center, Foot & Ankle Center, Medical Center, WesternU Pharmacy, Travel Health Center, and the Western Diabetes Institute – that allow students and faculty to work in a unique atmosphere that fosters collaboration between the different colleges.

Awards and honors

The Chronicle of Higher Education named WesternU one of its "Great Colleges to Work For" in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, with the 2014-16 recognitions including addition to the Chronicle Honor Roll as an institution with five or more areas of employment excellence.^[6] Pumerantz himself is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1995 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Connecticut, the 1995 Dale Dodson Award for national leadership from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, and the 2010 Distinguished Educator Award from the Boy Scouts of America. In 2011, he was selected to receive the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor,^[7] and in 2013 was given the Northwest Osteopathic Medical Foundation's Founders Award for Exceptional Accomplishment. Pumerantz has co-authored four college textbooks in education and has had numerous articles published in professional journals. He is listed in Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in the West, Who's Who in California, Who's Who in America, the Directory of International Biography, and in Outstanding Educators.

Retirement

In April 2015, Pumerantz announced that he planned to step down as president of Western University of Health Sciences in September of that year.^[8] On the day after Labor 2015—exactly 38 years to the day he started work as president of COMP—Pumerantz resigned from the presidency, transitioning into a new role as President Emeritus of the university, where he continues to work part-time. Gary Gugelchuk, PhD, WesternU's provost and chief operating officer, took on the title of interim president while a national search was conducted for Pumerantz's replacement.^[9] Daniel R. Wilson, MD, PhD, vice president of the University of Florida Health Science Center-Jacksonville and dean of the UF College of Medicine, was appointed in March 2016 to succeed Pumerantz as president of Western University of Health Sciences. Dr. Wilson officially assumed his duties on July 1, 2016, becoming just the second full-time president in the university's history.^[10]

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