Kansas University’s interim Chancellor Barbara Atkinson talks on Wednesday about what is in store for the next few weeks from the near-empty chancellor’s office Wednesday in Strong Hall. Atkinson will be filling in until the new chancellor, Bernadette Gray-Little, begins next month.

Kansas University Medical Center Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara Atkinson talks about what is in store for the next six weeks from the chancellor's office Wednesday, July 15, 2009 in Strong Hall. Atkinson will be filling in until new Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little begins on Aug. 15.

Two weeks into her six-week stay as Kansas University’s interim chancellor, Barbara Atkinson said she’s working to build relationships between two of KU’s campuses and pave the way for a smooth transition.

Atkinson, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center campus and executive dean of the KU School of Medicine, is interim chancellor until Aug. 15, when Bernadette Gray-Little will take over the post full time.

Atkinson is spending Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in Lawrence, and Tuesdays and Thursdays on the Medical Center campus in Kansas City, Kan.

“I’m having a lot of fun,” she said. “I’m learning a lot about the Lawrence campus that I didn’t know.”

After meeting with several of the deans in Lawrence, Atkinson said she’s been made aware of space issues and deferred maintenance problems that the Lawrence campus faces, much like the Medical Center does.

She said she hoped to use her position to bridge gaps between the two campuses and improve communication.

“I think that’s something in the long run that will serve everybody well,” Atkinson said. “So I’ve been doing more written and e-mail communication.”

Atkinson said she wanted to be careful not to make any permanent policy decisions, leaving those to Gray-Little.

“She’s the one who needs to set policy and make the big decisions ultimately,” Atkinson said.

However, in her time as interim chancellor, Atkinson said she’s been working on several state budget issues, and she helped lead a public forum on the matter last week.

“The budget clearly is an issue,” she said. “I think we’re in a wait-and-see mode for that.”

Meanwhile, she said the Medical Center campus is facing concerns itself.

The School of Medicine continues to be a popular option as more people return to school in struggling economy, Atkinson said. The school admits about 175 people after reviewing 2,200 applicants each year. The Nursing and Allied Health schools are in similar situations, Atkinson said.

“We’re turning away more students than we’d like,” she said.

Nursing and allied health also have graduate programs that continue to be in demand, she said. Many medical students are opting to obtain a master’s degree in public health to supplement their medical degrees, she said.

The Medical Center will focus on recruiting talented faculty members in the upcoming year as the school continues its march toward application for National Cancer Institute designation, Atkinson said.

Research continues at KU Medical Center in a range of fields from drug development to using adult stem cells to regenerate heart tissue.

The School of Medicine in Wichita has a new dean, H. David Wilson, who came from the University of North Dakota. Wilson started his job this month.

Atkinson said she has been tasked with addressing the situation involving graduate medical education in Wichita. The state has had difficulty funding the Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education program, which has historically been a source for doctors in rural Kansas.

“I don’t know what the solution is going to look like,” Atkinson said. “But we need to be sure that there’s funding, that there are the best programs and that the programs, if anything, expand and not contract.”