Resignation of top officials at the Windsor branch of Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry comes as a surprise to faculty, students and the local medical community.

Tom Scott, associate dean of Schulich’s satellite campus at the University of Windsor, and assistant dean Raphael Cheung both stepped down from their positions in December 2009.

“Last June [Scott] informed me that he was intending to step down and retire in May of this year. We agreed that we would defer the announcement until the term was well along because we were not in a rush,” Carol Herbert, dean of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, explained.

While Scott had given his resignation letter last year, it is unclear as to why Cheung stepped down from his position as well.

“He had been involved with [the Schulich] program for the last seven years. He decided he also didn’t want to continue and resigned [from] his position,” Herbert said.

According to Alan Wildeman, U of W president, Cheung’s resignation letter mentioned he was stepping down due to personal reasons.

“He told me some months ago he didn’t see himself continuing on. The timing [of his resignation], I can’t comment on but he’d already advised me that he’d been doing this a long time […] I had hoped he would have continued for longer but that’s what he chose to do,” Herbert added.

Although Cheung will no longer assume his position as assistant dean, he will continue to teach at the university.

While Herbert assured there was no difference in opinion among Western, Windsor and Schulich’s administrations, she mentioned they continue to work on their communication. “There have certainly been the expected bumps to the road in terms of trying to develop a joint venture with the campuses being 200 kilometres apart. And that’s a work in progress,” she said.

“We have no plans to go independent. We are very happy with the kind of partnership we got and we are looking forward to building upon that,” Wildeman added.

While the search continues for a new associate dean, Jim Silcox, who formerly worked at the University, will take on the role of acting associate dean for the Windsor Schulich Program.

Herbert emphasized students will not be affected by the ongoing changes in leadership. “Students should notice no change,” he said.

“That is actually one of the reasons [we deferred the announcement of Scott’s resignation] to ensure students were well along in the second year of the new two-year program and that we actually attempted to avoid announcement during exams.”