A tale of two campuses: Lessons learned in establishing a satellite campus

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity." The opening line of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities could easily be the dramatic opening line of a summary of the establishment of a satellite medical school campus in Manitoba. Reflection on my last four years as associate dean reveals that most of the descriptors in that famous sentence at one time or another were apropos. This brief essay will relate the experiences of the last four years and some of the lessons learned along the way.