About 550 industry leaders, community members, students, and alumni joined Carthage College on April 23 to celebrate the grand opening of the School of Health.
Keynote speaker Steve Serota praised Carthage for its commitment to prepare well-rounded, compassionate healthcare professionals. As we enter an era of rapidly advancing technology, he noted that practitioners must learn to use the tools but also to question their findings.
“Algorithms can guide us, but they cannot absolve us,” Mr. Serota explained. “They cannot replace the clinician who pauses and says, ‘Something doesn’t feel right.’ That instinct, that curiosity, is what saves lives. This is where the School of Health becomes not just an academic program, but a moral compass for the future of care.”
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Paul Martino, dean for the School of Health, reinforced Carthage’s determination to meet the rising demand for healthcare in the region. Since welcoming its first students last fall, the school has formed new employer partnerships, increased scholarship funding, and expanded facilities.
Mr. Serota is president and chief operating officer of Wisconsin Diagnostic Laboratories, which performs more than 7 million tests annually. He’s also CEO of Atalan, a technology platform that gives practitioners access to a vetted network of clinical laboratories.
He noted the new school provides a mutual benefit, lifting up the College as a whole.
“These are not students who are wandering toward purpose. These are students who feel a responsibility to others long before they ever put on a white coat or step into a clinic,” he said. “They come here with a conviction that someone, somewhere, needs them, and that their education is the first step toward answering that call.”
Carthage intends to make the new school a responsive talent incubator that relies on real-time input from regional employers and practitioners. President John Swallow emphasized the importance of those ongoing partnerships.
“The people of this region are counting on us to get this right,” he said. “Every one of them will walk into a clinic or a hospital and need a nurse. As the workforce narrows and the demand for care grows, that nurse will appear because of what people gathered in places like this chose to build together.”
After the presentation, student representatives from each area of study signed a charter formally establishing the School of Health. Nursing, allied health science, and other thriving baccalaureate programs at Carthage have come together under a single umbrella with a growing menu of graduate tracks and credentialing options like the certified nurse aide (CNA) training program.
To conclude the ceremony, Associate Dean Nancy Reese led students in a heartfelt pledge to fully embrace their education and use it to serve the wider community.
