LEBANON — Are there long-term plans to establish additional medical programs at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, which is scheduled to welcome its first class of 100 students in August 2011?

Western University of Health Science dean Clinton Adams said the graduate university is willing to consider adding disciplines if the need is shown.

Right now, his hands are full with less than two years left to get a 55,000-square-foot building up and running on what is now relatively bare ground across from Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital.

Plus, Adams said, the Western campus is undergoing its largest expansion in its 32-year history, including a 180,000-square-foot health education building and a 75,000-square-foot patient care center.

The Pomona campus was founded in 1977 and has since added the college of allied health in 1990, college of pharmacy in 1996, college of graduate nursing in 1997, college of veterinary medicine in 2003, and colleges of dentistry, podiatry, optometry and biomedical science in 2009.

“We don’t offer undergraduate programs, but we are quite willing to work with Linn-Benton Community College or Oregon State University to develop doctoral programs in nursing or physical therapy, for example,” Adams said.

Planning development of the 53-acre site includes space for the addition of several COMP buildings, as well as a hotel, conference center and retail shops, according to Larry Mullins, president and CEO of Samaritan Health Services.

“We think this site will become a hub for community activities,” Mullins said last week during a reception for more than 100 Western University staff and mid-valley residents at Mallard Creek Golf Course.

Adams was named Western’s dean in 2005, after a distinguished 30-year career in the Navy, where he attained the rank of admiral. He served as chief executive of naval hospitals in Naples, Italy, and Beaufort, S.C., and was chief operating officer and surgical director of the naval hospital in Okinawa, Japan.

Among his duties was serving as director of TRICARE Mid-Atlantic, which had a $3.2 billion budget that supported nine regional medical facilities.

Adams earned his osteopathic degree from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.