New Sargent Foundation Dean’s Suite at School of Medicine Greenville
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A new dean’s office suite opened this week at UofSC School of Medicine Greenville, bringing office and meeting space to be utilized as a modern welcoming venue, to the epicenter of its medical school.
The Sargent Foundation Dean’s Suite is centrally located on the first floor of the Health Sciences Education building where medical students meet for course lectures, collaborate with other students in meeting spaces, and build skills in the simulation center.
“Being anchored now in the heart of our medical school, this dean’s suite means members of my team and I are more accessible to our students than ever before,” said School of Medicine Greenville Dean Marjorie Jenkins, MD MEdHP FACP. “Nothing beats being out here in the same building with our students and being energized by them. I am an open-door dean, and it really does my heart good to see my students around and see them thriving.”
The suite was the result of a wall-to-wall renovation project that upgraded space in the Health Sciences Education Building, converting unused and vacant café space to 1,694 square feet of office and conference-room space in the dean’s suite. The project was completed at the end of June, 2022. It was funded through the generosity of the Sargent Foundation in the form of a $750,000 gift to Prisma Health Upstate, a partner institution of the School of Medicine Greenville.
The project is a milestone that comes in the 10th anniversary of the School of Medicine Greenville, which opened to its inaugural class of students in July, 2012. Situated in the epicenter of SOMG, the Sargent Foundation Dean’s Suite houses several administrative offices that were previously spread across campus. In addition to better connecting students to the dean’s office staff, it will also serve as a welcome venue for members of the local community, as well as prospective students and faculty visiting the School of Medicine Greenville (SOMG).
A dedication plaque noting the contribution of the Sargent Foundation was unveiled outside the dean’s suite before an event Sept. 7 in the Health Sciences Education building attended by faculty, staff, donors, medical students and community members.
Founded in 1953 by Earle and Eleanor Sargent and led by Sargent Foundation trustees Dr. Robert and Mrs. Teresa Wilson and Dr. Bob Jones III, the Sargent Foundation is a valued partner of Prisma Health and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville.
“The dean’s suite is just one of the gifts from the Foundation that have impacted students and our medical school,” said Dean Jenkins. “I am so grateful that our medical school has such a vital and visionary partner like the Sargent Foundation.”
Dr. Robert Wilson, chair of the Sargent Foundation, was on hand for the plaque unveiling and event Sept. 7. “We are honored to be able to contribute to the School of Medicine Greenville,” Wilson said. “Nothing means more to a community than the quality of the health care system, and nothing did more to change the quality of the medical health care system here than the medical school opening here.”
The 90,000 square-foot Health Sciences Education building is the heart of SOMG, a forward-looking medical school with a state-of-the-art integrated curriculum. The suite, located on the first floor of the building, will be centrally located for students, faculty, including visiting faculty and clinical faculty, and all others who visit, teach and train in the building, which houses the Prisma Health Simulation Center.
“This will make the dean more accessible,” said second-year medical student Anne Nguyen. “I’ve only met with her once, and I plan to do so more often during my next two years.” Nguyen is a student assistant involved in the SOMG Student Summer Research Program, for which the Sargent Foundation has provided funding for student research stipends.
A separate recent project, completed in June, also updated Admissions offices, which are located in proximity to the Sargent Foundation Dean’s Suite.
About the USC School of Medicine Greenville
The University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville is a partnership between the state’s largest university, the University of South Carolina (USC), and one of the largest health systems in the Southeast, the Greenville Health System (GHS). Located next to GHS’ flagship tertiary hospital Greenville Memorial Hospital, the medical school graduated its first physician class in spring 2016. This “different school of thought” is dedicated to providing exceptional training for new physicians in transforming healthcare delivery. Learn more at greenvillemed.sc.edu.