St. Joe's and University of Sciences - potential merger
Feb 10, 2021 12:28:37 GMT -5
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Feb 10, 2021 12:28:37 GMT -5
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Dear Alumni and Friends:
Consistent with our strategic plan, Saint Joseph’s is committed to partnering with other institutions to enhance our academic portfolio and strengthen the educational experience we offer our students. This approach has been effective for us across our schools, centers and institutes, and many academic programs. It remains ever important as the state of higher education continues to change at a rapid pace and in significant ways.
Recently, a particularly promising and exciting opportunity has come to the fore. University of the Sciences, a premier health sciences university located less than five miles away, approached us as part of a structured and thoughtful process they decided to undertake. We were quick to see many potential benefits of a combination and were happy to begin talks.
Today, I am pleased to tell you that we have signed a letter of intent and will undertake exclusive discussions to fully evaluate the benefits of combining our institutions and to finalize a definitive agreement of merger. Should we decide to move forward at the end of this process, we would work on integration plans and finalize the necessary steps to complete the transaction and merge USciences with and into Saint Joseph’s University. This period of time allows both institutions to evaluate the opportunity completely before finalizing a definitive agreement to combine.
For a potential combination to benefit our students, some aspects must be compatible: mission, vision and strategy. And other aspects should be complementary: academic portfolio, campus resources and expertise. Throughout these next conversations, we will thoughtfully consider all of these areas and more.
Those of you familiar with USciences know that it is home to the nation’s first college of pharmacy. Like us, USciences is a student-focused university with 200 years of history in Philadelphia. Their programmatic offerings are a complementary fit with ours, with minimal redundancy. While our liberal arts core and business education would strengthen the educational foundation for any scientist or health professional, their state-of-the-art laboratories and industry-leading health sciences programs would create an educational pipeline for our students interested in these future-focused careers.
Over the next several months, we will fully evaluate this opportunity with great care and integrity and be as inclusive and communicative as permitted during this important evaluation period. At the end of this period of thorough evaluation, University leadership and I will make a final recommendation to our Board of Trustees for its consideration and approval. USciences’ leadership team and board would follow a parallel process. From there, if it is decided that we move forward, we would then work on integration plans and finalize the necessary steps to complete the combination.
This is truly a transformational and exciting opportunity to continue Saint Joseph’s growth and evolution as one of our region’s best comprehensive universities and expand the scope and reach of our Jesuit educational mission.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mark C. Reed, Ed.D.
President
Dear Alumni and Friends:
Consistent with our strategic plan, Saint Joseph’s is committed to partnering with other institutions to enhance our academic portfolio and strengthen the educational experience we offer our students. This approach has been effective for us across our schools, centers and institutes, and many academic programs. It remains ever important as the state of higher education continues to change at a rapid pace and in significant ways.
Recently, a particularly promising and exciting opportunity has come to the fore. University of the Sciences, a premier health sciences university located less than five miles away, approached us as part of a structured and thoughtful process they decided to undertake. We were quick to see many potential benefits of a combination and were happy to begin talks.
Today, I am pleased to tell you that we have signed a letter of intent and will undertake exclusive discussions to fully evaluate the benefits of combining our institutions and to finalize a definitive agreement of merger. Should we decide to move forward at the end of this process, we would work on integration plans and finalize the necessary steps to complete the transaction and merge USciences with and into Saint Joseph’s University. This period of time allows both institutions to evaluate the opportunity completely before finalizing a definitive agreement to combine.
For a potential combination to benefit our students, some aspects must be compatible: mission, vision and strategy. And other aspects should be complementary: academic portfolio, campus resources and expertise. Throughout these next conversations, we will thoughtfully consider all of these areas and more.
Those of you familiar with USciences know that it is home to the nation’s first college of pharmacy. Like us, USciences is a student-focused university with 200 years of history in Philadelphia. Their programmatic offerings are a complementary fit with ours, with minimal redundancy. While our liberal arts core and business education would strengthen the educational foundation for any scientist or health professional, their state-of-the-art laboratories and industry-leading health sciences programs would create an educational pipeline for our students interested in these future-focused careers.
Over the next several months, we will fully evaluate this opportunity with great care and integrity and be as inclusive and communicative as permitted during this important evaluation period. At the end of this period of thorough evaluation, University leadership and I will make a final recommendation to our Board of Trustees for its consideration and approval. USciences’ leadership team and board would follow a parallel process. From there, if it is decided that we move forward, we would then work on integration plans and finalize the necessary steps to complete the combination.
This is truly a transformational and exciting opportunity to continue Saint Joseph’s growth and evolution as one of our region’s best comprehensive universities and expand the scope and reach of our Jesuit educational mission.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mark C. Reed, Ed.D.
President