PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE: 2008 Was a Very Good Year at Northwestern

When I review all of the accomplishments achieved by Northwestern Health Sciences University in 2008, I find a common thread through every bit of our success. That thread is the people who so passionately support this 68-year-old institution of higher education.

It is these thousands of people – alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of the institution – who have helped immeasurably in so many different ways in carrying us ever closer to our goal of becoming the university of choice in natural health care.

From recruiting students to supporting Northwestern events, from donating to our Capital Campaign to teaching and mentoring Northwestern students, all of these supporters were invaluable in 2008 in helping us to accomplish many of our priorities. Highlights from the last year included:

• Our Capital Campaign, “Imagine Our Future,” passed the $5 million dollar mark in cash and the $7 million mark in endowment donations. I want to specially recognize William Harris, DC, who passed away late last year. Dr. Harris, who donated $500,000 to the Capital Campaign, was a long-time friend of Northwestern and both our research division and our new building bear his name. He was joined in 2008 by the following key donors:  The Monte Greenawalt Family Foundation, $1.5 million; David Stussy, DC, $1 million; Standard Process, $1 million; Integrity Management, $500,000; Hygenics, $125,000; National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company, $100,000; Jack Holtz, DC, and Joan Holtz, $100,000; John F. Allenburg, DC, $50,000; Jay Greenberg, DC, and Barbro Brost, DC, $50,000; Kent Erickson, DC, $25,000; Albert Hoff, DC, and Janet Hoff, $10,000; and Edward P. Sweere, $10,000.
• While major donors are regularly recognized in our publications, I want to make sure to note that all donations, no matter how large or small, are important to the future success of our University. We have hundreds of donors who give $1,000 or less, and they come from a broad array of our supporters, including faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the University. And this segment of our giving campaign continues to grow.
• The Wolfe-Harris Center for Excellence, our new 48,000-square-foot addition on the south side of campus, opened for business in fall 2008, shortly before the Standard Process Healing Garden was completed.
• Northwestern’s enrollment remained steady, with 283 students beginning their academic studies at Northwestern in the last year. This was especially gratifying given the enrollment problems many of the other natural health care institutions have been struggling with lately. In the last 12 months, we enrolled 173 chiropractic students, 41 MCAOM students, and 69 massage therapy students.
• We continued to strengthen our clinical training programs, adding new partnerships at Cerenity Residence on Humboldt, a senior care center; with the Volunteers of America; and through our Warrior to Citizen program.
• Our three Homecomings drew more than 1,600 alumni and other health care practitioners to campus in the last year. During these challenging economic times, we continue to band together to support each other, our professions, and this great University.
• We brought our Undergraduate Studies program for chiropractic students onto campus; and we began offering courses in nutrition that will form the foundation of an eventual master’s in clinical nutrition program.
• The volunteer patient recruitment phase of two major federally-funded studies are nearing completion. They focus on “Chiropractic and Self-care for Back-Related Leg Pain” and “Individualized Chiropractic and Integrative Care for Low Back Pain.” In addition, our CAM-ED study is making great progress and it is expected that elements of the project will be incorporated into our curriculum this spring. Finally, our research staff are working diligently to submit an array of new proposals to funding agencies this spring.

As you can see, it was a busy year on campus in 2008. I am continually amazed at how much the people of Northwestern accomplish each year, and how passionately they live our institutional ideal of fostering a “Community of Caring.” They truly care about this institution, their professions, their patients, and one another. And that caring shows. Thank you!