(KAIR)--The addition of an independent medical school receives the go-ahead from Benedictine College leadership.

According to a release, the Board of Directors for the Atchison-based private, Catholic college agreed to proceed with the plan, authorizing college President Stephen Minnis, on August 23, to sign a collaborative affiliation agreement between Catholic Healthcare International and Benedictine College. That’s set to happen September 8, a date decided by the college because it’s the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. The release calls the agreement “historic.”

The medical school, the release explains, “will be an independent, nonprofit, separately financed, licensed, accredited and governed entity,” with deliberations for the plan including local officials “as the medical school is expected to make a significant positive impact on Atchison.”

The proposed name for the medical school, to be located on the college campus, is the Saint Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering, School of Osteopathic Medicine, at Benedictine College.

The release notes that plans for the medical school fits into the college’s new strategic plan, Transforming Culture in America, which states that “STEM education is a particular emphasis of Benedictine College,” which “instructs the college to advance the mission through science and health care by forming students comprehensively in bioethics and fostering external relationships.”

With the September 8 agreement signing date still awaited, no timeline for the project is announced, with Minnis, in the release, saying Benedictine College “cannot wait to share more details of this project as they become available.”

The planned medical school is not yet accredited or approved to make offers of admission.