In the fall, the University of New Haven will open its sixth college, the School of Health Sciences with Summer McGee, Ph.D, as the first dean.

The school was developed over three years with more than two dozen faculty. President Steven Kaplan said the school will help to bring in more students pursuing health and wellness careers and create a strong presence in the regional marker.

“I envision this school doubling its enrollments over the next five years,” said Kaplan.

The school will include undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in dental hygiene, healthcare administration, health sciences, nutrition and dietetics, and paramedicine. It will consist of the departments of allied health, nutrition sciences, and health administration and policy with programs from the university’s pre-health professions scholars, health and wellness, and health and sciences programs.

“I think the new college will give these majors and opportunity to become better known by everyone on campus,” said Alexis Aponte, a sophomore nutrition major, one of the majors to be added to the new school.

The school’s first dean, McGee is currently chair of the department of health and science. She joined the university in 2013 and is an internationally renowned health policy scholar.

“Prior to being at University of New Haven, I taught exclusively at medical schools and I was trained in a school of public health,” said McGee. “These experiences gave me a wide range of teaching and research opportunities that will inform my work as dean.”

The school will have 12 full-time faculty members, over 30 clinical faculty members and more than 400 students.