Mayo Medical School observes 30th anniversary

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Mayo Medical School will celebrate its 30th Anniversary the week of Oct. 21 through Oct. 25 with special activities for the Rochester community as well as Mayo medical students, faculty and staff.

Dr. Anthony Windebank, dean of Mayo Medical School, says, "This milestone marks an important coming of age for Mayo Medical School. The school began as an experiment with a new type of curriculum that wove medical education together with the patient-seeing experience. The goal was to educate future doctors not only in knowledge but in the context of caring for the patient in the broadest sense.

"In the short space of 30 years, Mayo Medical School has become one of the nation's top medical schools. It is the most competitive school for admission in the country and we recruit wonderful students. The education is still deeply embedded in the humanistic and professional values of caring, compassion and understanding. Our founders would be very proud of the school they began 30 years ago," says Dr. Windebank.

The anniversary commemoration, entitled "Building on Tradition: Celebrating 30 Years of Excellence," will include the following events:

• A "Rededication of the Ruth and Frederick Mitchell Student Center: An Enduring Collaboration with our Community," is planned for Friday, Oct. 25 from 3 to 4 p.m. Mitchell Student Center is located at 226 Second Street SW, Rochester.

  The rededication features the unveiling of artwork by artist Ron Hunt of Lake City, Minn. Hunt used the stipple technique of black-and-white color gradation to capture the essence of the Mitchell Student Center. Signed copies of Hunt's artwork will be presented to representatives of the Rochester Public Library and city of Rochester to honor their long-standing relationship with Mayo Clinic and service to the Rochester community. The event is free and open to the public.

• A ceremony entitled "Celebration of Humanism in Medicine" will honor the physicians' Hippocratic oath, Mayo Model of Care, and the Mayo Clinic ideal of humanism in the practice of medicine. Medical students will demonstrate the art of humanism in action through musical and dramatic performances. The ceremony will take place in Phillips Hall, in the Siebens Medical Education Building, 100 Second Ave. SW, Thursday., Oct. 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Mayo Medical School enrolls a select class of 42 medical students each year, chosen from more than 2,500 applicants. The school's goal is to enroll a diverse group of outstanding students, who have demonstrated an aptitude in the sciences and a deep desire to serve others through medicine.

Historical footnotes
The Mitchell Student Center building has a rich history that dates back into the early days of Rochester.

• The building was constructed between 1936-1937.


• The city of Rochester and the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) jointly funded its construction. The building cost was $178,000.


• The building's Tudor-Gothic exterior is made entirely of Dolomite Limestone that was quarried at Kasota, Minn.


• Architect Harold Crawford designed the building's exterior; Architect Peter Bross designed the interior.


• The building had always rested on land owned by Mayo Clinic. In the 1930s, Mayo had deeded the land to the library with a reverter clause that stated the land could be used by the library "for as long as the same (the land) shall be used for library purposes."


• When the library was looking to expand in 1971, the building was sold to Mayo for $375,000.


• The library then had enough money to purchase the former J.C. Penney building in downtown Rochester, and Mayo converted the old library into its medical school.


• In 1985, Mayo (through a generous donation from Mrs. Ruth Charlton Mitchell Masson) remodeled the building and renamed it the Ruth and Frederick Mitchell Student Center.

Contact:
John Murphy
507-538-1385 (days)
507-284-2511 (evenings)
email: newsbureau@mayo.edu

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