Jefferson and Philly U. reach final deal

The board of Philadelphia University approved a binding agreement Friday to merge with Thomas Jefferson University. Officials expect the deal to be final by the end of the current academic year.

Jefferson's board approved the merger, which will be the third for the Center City tax-exempt organization since Stephen K. Klasko became chief executive three years ago, on Wednesday.

Jefferson, which has mostly graduate programs and is centered on the Sidney Kimmel Medical College, and Philadelphia University, which is in East Falls and is best known for its design, engineering, and health programs, announced a preliminary agreement in December.

Klasko will continue to lead Jefferson, which also includes Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Abington-Jefferson Health, and Aria-Jefferson Health. Another deal, with Kennedy Health in South Jersey, is pending.

Philadelphia University president Stephen Spinelli Jr., who has led that school since 2007, will be chancellor of the combined university. Mark Tykocinski, now executive vice president of academic affairs of Thomas Jefferson University and dean of the medical college, will be vice chancellor and provost of the merged university, according to Friday's announcement.

What will happen to the Philadelphia University name is unclear. Management said it would deal with the branding issue as part of a strategic planning process that will start as soon as possible.

When the merger closes -- pending approvals by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education -- changes will come to the mix of activities in Center City and East Falls, Klasko said during a news conference at Philadelphia University.

"I can promise you that downtown will not be the health component and here will be the undergraduate component. That would be creating two different planets," Klasko said.

"We will look at what's the best use of this, and it will include some of the health and graduate students here, and what's the best use of that, and it will include some of the undergraduate and design students there," he said.

One possible outcome for Philadelphia University, which has the equivalent of 3,750 full-time students this fall, is that the connection with a medical school makes it a more attractive destination for students in the highly competitive Northeastern United States college market. Jefferson has around 4,000 students.

It already did so for Kelsey Korst, a pre-med student from Montana who said she transferred to Philadelphia University from Chestnut Hill College for her sophomore year after hearing about the merger.

"I thought it was a good move academically," she said, not because there was talk of easier admission to the medical school.

"They just said it opens up health-care opportunities that Philadelphia University didn't have before," she said.