UNMC Before the Merger
It took several years after the affiliation between the Omaha Medical College and the University of Nebraska for the University of Nebraska College of Medicine to fully form. In the beginning, medical students took the first 2 years of basic science courses in Lincoln and the final 2 years of clinical training in Omaha. The divided college was not supported by the national Flexnor Report which analyzed American medical education in 1909. After several years of fighting over the location, the state legislature appropriated the funds to purchase land for a medical campus site in Omaha. The College of Medicine continued grow in Omaha but remained under the administrative control of the university in Lincoln.
In 1902, the Omaha Medical College, a proprietary school, affiliated with the University of Nebraska to create the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. Because Omaha offered a larger clinical population, the medical campus remained in Omaha while Lincoln retained administrative control.
In 1968, the College of Medicine campus became a separate semi-autonomous governing body from Lincoln. The Dean of the College of Medicine became the Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
In 1972, the School of Nursing was elevated to a College. The School of Nursing had absorbed the nursing program from the University of Omaha in 1968 and in the following decade would extend to outreach campuses across the state. The School of Allied Health Professions was formed under the College of Medicine in 1972. The College of Pharmacy, originally located in Lincoln, moved to Omaha in 1972. The University of Nebraska Medical Center took administrative control of the College of Dentistry in 1979, but the college remains in Lincoln.
