Thursday was a very big day for Yuma County. The Arizona Board of Regents came down to Yuma to hold a special board meeting at Arizona Western College.
The biggest outcome of the meeting was the passage of an agricultural research grant that will bring together Arizona’s three public universities.
The three-year grant will launch the Arizona Hub for Agriculture Innovation. Although it'll be centered in Yuma, it aims to transform ag research into industry-ready solutions for farmers and ranchers statewide.
"Yuma was the right place to do it, ag is the right place to do it; you knew exactly what you needed, you knew how to use us, you had trust relationships with us," said Regent Fred Duval. "This is everything we've set out to do in regents' grants in by way of serving the public."
Before the meeting, ABOR members partook in an agriculture tour of Yuma, getting a close-up look at the industry their grant will be benefitting.
On that same morning, Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne toured Gowan Science Academy.
Horne presented Principal Alissa Guevara with a plaque recognizing the school for excellent academic performance.
"If you're wondering why did I come to this school, their reading and writing proficiency is 51% compared to 40% statewide, and their math proficiency is 56% compared to 31% statewide," he said. "That is a tremendous achievement and it's great to celebrate success."
The day ended with a ribbon cutting on Arizona's first rural regional medical school branch: the Onvida Health Medical Education Center, located at 725 W. 32nd Street in Yuma.
The branch is the result of a new partnership between Onvida Health and the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix (COM-P). As an extension of the college's three-year medical training programs in Phoenix and Tucson, the initiative intends to address Arizona's primary care physician shortage.
"We're already recruiting students and our first class will launch in the summer of 2026," said University of Arizona Provost and Chief Academic Officer Patricia Prelock. "The Yuma branch will serve as COM-P’s formal primary care accelerated pathway program, and remember this is part of the three-year MD track designed to really reinforce students who are committed to a career in primary care, family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, the specialties that are most needed in Yuma and other rural communities."
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Stay tuned to KAWC and this week's Arizona Edition for more on these stories.
Reporting for this article is supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation.
