At a ceremony last Wednesday to commemorate breaking ground at the future site of the Nursing + Student Wellness Center, Emporia State President Ken Hush, administrators, stakeholders and state representatives expressed their dedication of the new building to current and future ESU students.
The new Nursing + Student Wellness Center building comes after establishing the need to move nursing students on campus and parting ways with the original plan to renovate Central Morse Hall. Currently, nursing students take classes off-campus in Cora Miller Hall next to Newman Regional Health.
“When we started about two and a half years ago with analyzing the University, and the first thing we wanted to do was call it the University in our community … and the mantra was it was all about you present today. It was about “students, students, and students.”” said ESU President Ken Hush during his remarks. “That’s what we refocused, we set our vision upon, and so that’s the purpose of today. … We are dedicating this facility, this new one, to the current students and future students of Emporia State University.”
Set to be finished by Fall 2025, the 32,000 square feet, state-of-the-art facility will be equipped with a simulation hospital, high-tech labs and other learning spaces, two student lounges, a conference room and will also house Student Accessibility and Support Services. ESU Foundation President Shane Shively said the center is aimed at “providing our community, state, and region with the highest quality healthcare” and supporting ESU students by “considering the whole person’s wellbeing.” It is also aimed at providing students with the education and resources they need for the field.
“Now Emporia State embarks on a new building that is going to significantly improve the technology and the instruction for our future nurses,” said Kansas Rep. Mark Schreiber. “It’s going to be a tremendous asset to the state and to the region.”
The Nursing + Student Wellness Center building is fully paid for through fundraising donations from donors, despite ESU initially receiving a $15 million bond from the state of Kansas. Because of this, the burden does not fall on students to pay back the money borrowed.
“Particularly when new buildings get built, there are costs that are associated and passed on to students through student fees. So with this, by paying it off, it will save every student $460 a year in student fees, times the year that they’re here,” Hush said.
In his own remarks, ESU Provost Brent Thomas encouraged community members to see the building as an investment, not “in terms of a price tag.”
“It’s an important investment in our community, it’s an important investment in our region, it’s an important investment in our academic programs and the university, but most importantly this is a continued demonstration of the investment that ESU is making in our students,” he said.
