Topeka ? The Kansas Board of Regents on Thursday approved Kansas University’s plans to start a School of Public Health.

“For Kansas, it fills a critical gap in health education in the state,” said KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.

The school will be formed through realigning faculty and reorganizing several schools within KU in Lawrence, Kansas City, and Wichita.

KU officials said the school will help improve public health, grow the health care work force, increase federal grant funding, and support KU’s efforts at National Cancer Institute designation.

With the approval, Barbara Atkinson, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center, said she will embark on fundraising efforts in searching for a dean. University officials said they plan to begin fundraising, in hopes of obtaining $2.5 million to recruit a dean and $2 million for an endowed chair position.

Atkinson said KU will seek accreditation for the school in 2011 with the possibility of accreditation coming as early as 2014.