Goshen College received a $4 million federal grant Tuesday to expand its nursing program by renovating Westlawn Hall.
The renovation will allow the college to triple the size of its nursing program facilities and quadruple the number of students it trains.
“The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of skilled nurses and health care professionals in an emergency,” Goshen College President Rebecca Stoltzfus said in a release. “As a regional workforce training provider for the healthcare industry, we are well positioned to help make the region’s workforce ready for future healthcare emergencies, which will increase the region’s resiliency in the face of future health-related crises.”
Currently, the second and third floors of Westlawn Hall serve as campus storage space. But the renovation will turn the 18,000 square-foot space into a nursing education center with three inpatient simulation rooms, six exam rooms, a 10-bed skills lab, classrooms, student lounges and office space.
The grant comes via an Economic Development Administration program that’s meant to help communities recover from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program has funded other projects in the state, including STEM workforce training in Fort Wayne and a manufacturing expansion in Orange County.
The college will provide a $1.7 match for the grant and plans to begin renovations in 2023. The project is expected to generate over 800 jobs.
Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo.
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