Good work deserves praise. Quillen College of Medicine’s recognition as 13th best in the nation, with a fourth-place honor in rural medicine, is truly an accomplishment that should and will bring much honor to the college and the university as a whole.
For each day in the more than quarter-century that ETSU has had the medical school, it has been a, if not the, key source of what has become known as ETSU pride.
The school has risen to become a national leader in one of academia’s most prestigious fields. As President Stanton said, it is just a few notches from the top. Let’s all work to make Quillen College of Medicine the national leader in both rural medicine and medical training as a whole.
Some, who major in other fields, may wonder what they stand to gain from the success of the medical school. The answer is plenty.
The reputation of this university would skyrocket, not only locally but nationally, with a No. 1 distinction. In a time when higher education is only being funded at approximately 85 percent of the state’s funding formula, such a boost would help turn around enrollment figures and draw needed attention to ETSU.
Perhaps great success is what is needed to draw the sleeping eyes of state legislators. Such accomplishments as those to which we are well on the way demand to be rewarded.
Regardless of what the future may hold, this should be a time of celebration for ETSU. Despite the slings and arrows of Tennessee bureaucrats, our school is succeeding.
News like this makes ETSU pride more apparent than any T-shirt, pin or button ever could.

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