U of Illinois trustees consider new medical school

URBANA, Ill. — University of Illinois trustees will vote on a plan to open a new engineering-based medical school at the Urbana-Champaign campus.

Trustees are scheduled to meet Thursday in Urbana.

The plan was recommended by university President Robert Easter. He said the new school would help university research and teaching while providing a potential model for public-private funding as government support of higher education dwindles.

The school’s startup costs are estimated at $100 million. The university would partner with the Urbana-based Carle Foundation hospital, which has pledged $100 million over 10 years.

The existing College of Medicine in Chicago had a competing proposal to open a new biomedical research institute.