Touro educates to meet Southern Nevada needs

By Nicole Lucht

Friday, March 13, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The secret behind Touro University Nevada’s growth spurt over the past five years is simple: Offer degree programs in areas the Las Vegas economy needs.

Touro is considering developing more colleges for its Henderson campus, potentially even veterinary medicine, Chief Executive Michael Harter said. There are about 30 such schools in the United States, although none is in Nevada, according to the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges.

Touro, which already offers degrees in osteopathic medicine, physical therapy and nursing, will be expanding its clinical practice and is interested in opening a gerontology center, Harter said. Should that happen, Touro would like to expand its research facility to include the study of aging, he said.

Touro has grown nearly 1,600 percent since it opened in 2004 with 78 osteopathic medical students. It now has 1,300 students in several programs, according to In Business Las Vegas research. It’s listed as the fourth largest institution of higher education in Las Vegas, according to the research.

Because of the university’s growth, it has had to rebrand itself from solely a medical school and a branch of its California sister campus, Touro spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said.

“One of the things that has happened,” Grey said, “other than getting all these different, diverse programs that aren’t necessarily medicine or education, there was a growing need (to determine) how do we create a unifying identity for the university so that people can understand a little bit better what we’re about, and do something a holistic that incorporates all of the programs.”

The warehouse exterior of its building at 874 American Pacific Drive in Henderson was redesigned for a more academic look, including scholarly columns. Touro also owns the next building and the 145,000 square feet of space can potentially grow to 500,000 square feet, Harter said.

“We have a lot of room to grow,” he said.

Financially, Touro’s assets increased from $8.1 million on July 1, 2006, to $37.5 million by June 30, 2007, according to the university’s most recently available filing with the Internal Revenue Service.

The university had 487 students in 2006, according to In Business’ 2007 Book of Business Lists.

Touro claimed $17.2 million in revenue, $15.5 million in expenses and a loss of $3.6 million in net assets, according to its IRS filing, which said it collected $15.7 million in student fees.

Harter said the Henderson campus is “doing very well” despite the economy.

“The economy hasn’t impacted us negatively,” he said “We have lots of student applicants, and we’re primarily financed through tuition. As long as our student involvement numbers stay up, then we’re OK.”

Endowments aren’t as “robust” as they once were and investments are down, but the two campuses are in good shape financially, Harter said.

Most of the students — outside those in Touro’s education college — support their studies through financial aid, primarily loans.

Tuition and fees range from $24,000 for a first-year nursing student in the bachelor’s program to $37,100 in the 2008-09 school year for a osteopathic medicine doctoral student graduating in 2012.

In medical courses, Touro gets 2,400 applications for its 135 spots.

Students in the education college typically don’t seek financial aid because they are working and will collect higher wages from the Clark County School District when they complete their studies, Harter said.

When Touro opened its Henderson campus, it researched the needs of the community to determine which fields to train the up-and-coming workforce.

“What we discovered early on was that there was only one medical school in the state, and it was very small, and it didn’t look as if it was going to be much larger,” Harter said.

Touro’s first course in August 2004 was in osteopathic medicine with 78 students. Four years later, Touro graduated 76 students.

At the same time, the university noticed that many of the graduates were leaving Nevada. Touro entered a partnership with Valley Hospital and University Medical Center to offer its students a local residency — a major factor in encouraging the fledgling physicians to later practice in Las Vegas. Eighteen of the first class stayed in Las Vegas to complete their residencies.

Touro is working with other local hospitals to form partnerships as well. The veterans hospital may be the next to finalize an agreement, Harter said.

In the first year, Touro also created a physician assistant master’s program and has graduated four classes since.

The first year attracted students from California, many of whom didn’t stay in Las Vegas, Harter said. But since then, more Nevadan students have been signing up for the degree program, and staying here.

“It’s a very valued professional program, and the graduates usually have no problem finding a job,” Harter said. For every graduate Touro has had, that person has found a job.

As part of its plan, Touro is reaching out to the community through a patient clinic where its faculty practices and an autism center.

Touro started its Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities so students learn to work with children with autism.

“We discovered some years ago that the services for autistic children were oversubscribed,” Harter said. “The existing programs couldn’t begin to keep up with the demand.”

Touro decided to offer a broad-based care model for children being treated at its clinics. Students also participate in the clinic to gain experience.

“The plan is to have all of the diagnostic and therapeutic programs on one site so that the families don’t have to take their children from one place to the next,” Harter said.