Jacksonville Memorial Hospital’s top executive is the latest member of Illinois College’s Board of Trustees.
Dr. Scott Boston of Alexander was inducted as a trustee on May 7th. Boston says the first event he took part in as a trustee to the college was in June when 18th District Congressman Darin LaHood announced that Illinois College had received $330,000 in federal money for the college’s new Masters Degree in Nursing program.
Boston says he’s excited to add to the college’s excellence in healthcare education as a part of the board: “I was quite humbled and honored to be asked to join the Board of Trustees for Illinois College. Illinois College President Dr. Barbara Farley was someone that I had gotten to know during her time serving on the Jacksonville Memorial Hospital Board. We had been collaborating quite a bit on a lot of different projects and things with Illinois College. One of the things we’re obviously most interested in is their Nursing Program. The hospital had a lot of involvement with Illinois College when they were starting their Bachelor’s program and I got to know quite a bit about that. What I hope to be able to bring to the board is sort of a local understanding of the impact that Illinois College has particularly in the healthcare market, but not just the healthcare market, but in many of the areas that Illinois College has an impact in our local community.”
Boston says Illinois College’s ability to provide a high-level education rivals that of larger institutions in the state and in the country: “It’s interesting that Illinois College, being a private local liberal arts community institution, really provides an experience that you could get at a larger institution. You have that combination of that sort of local, intimate undergraduate experience but you’re also getting a world-class education. Locally, what that does for us, what that allows us to do is as a community – our local students get access to that. What we find is many times that if you do your education locally, you stay in that community and participate in the local economy and workforce.”
Boston says that many of the colleagues at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital either graduated from Illinois College or have a direct connection to the college. He says he hopes his perspective on the Board of Trustees will continue to help the college and its programs, especially the healthcare-related programs, continue to thrive and grow for many years into the future.