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January 11, 2011 Portlandbiz

UNE prepares for renovations, hires dental school dean

The University of New England's efforts to open a dental school by next year are moving ahead. The school is preparing to renovate a building on its Portland campus and has hired James Koelbl of California to head up the school.

UNE is awaiting final approval from the city for a pair of building permits to renovate the vacant Goddard Hall off College Street, which spokeswoman Kathleen Taggersell says should come any day. The $3.4 million project will turn the four-story, 13,625-square-foot hall, originally built in 1857 as a dormitory, into administrative offices, and conference and meeting space for the College of Dental Medicine. UNE hasn't yet decided if the building will also hold classroom space. Allied-Cook Construction of Scarborough is the contractor for the first phase of the renovation work and is already on-site, Taggersell says.

Renovation work includes structural rehabilitation, adding an elevator and roof work, she says. The Historic Preservation Commission approved the work, but the project did not receive any historic tax credits. UNE hopes to have the office space ready by this fall, and the college is scheduled to open by the fall of 2012.

On Thursday, UNE announced it had hired Koelbl, the founding dean of the College of Dental Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., to head its dental school. Western University hired him in 2006 to guide its proposed dental school through the accreditation process. Koelbl will begin his job at UNE in April.

The dental college must receive accreditation by the Commission on Dental Accreditation before opening. UNE has raised $6.8 million so far to establish the school, with a lead gift of $2.3 million from Northeast Delta Dental. A recently passed bond allocates $3.5 million to establish a community-based teaching clinic at the dental school.

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