Ground broken for USM College of Nursing

State and local officials, University of Southern Mississippi administrators and faculty, and even some future nurses turned out Wednesday for the groundbreaking of Asbury Hall.

Located on the western end of campus, the $31 million, three-story facility will house Southern Miss’ College of Nursing. It is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

“This has been an eight-year journey,” said Dr. Katherine Nugent, dean of the College of Nursing. “I remember being told a new building for the College of Nursing was not going to happen. People who know me also know that I’m not the most patient person. Well, here we are. ... This is the result of patience, persistence, sharing our story and a lot of support.”

Nugent added the new facility will help recruit new students to the School of Nursing and Southern Miss.

“When students and their parents make choices about a school, the facilities play a role in those choices,” she said.

The state-of-the-art facility will increase the College of Nursing’s square footage by 135 percent and provide much-needed space for faculty and students. Asbury Hall also will allow nursing enrollment to increase from the current 550 students to more than 800, and expand new programs in the College of Nursing with interactive student areas, an enlarged and enhanced clinical simulation lab, computer labs and classrooms.

In January 2012, the Southern Miss Foundation announced an $8 million fundraising campaign to help construct a new nursing program facility. The building campaign got a $4 million boost from the Asbury Foundation — a gift that led to the naming of Asbury Hall.

To date, the campaign has raised more than $6 million toward the original goal.

In addition to the $8 million in private contributions and $4 million in federal grants, Southern Miss received $20 million in state bonds from the Legislature in April 2013 for the project.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said the public-and-private partnership that went into making Asbury Hall a reality will serve as a model for future opportunities of this kind.

“I am always able and willing to invest in a project that makes sense for the state of Mississippi,” he said. “We are investing in a facility in which we know what will happen to these students when they graduate. Every single person who gets a degree from this program will be able to find a j-o-b.”

He added Mississippi needs more nurses and other health care workers.

“Demographics in the state and country can’t be ignored. In Mississippi, we need more health care professionals,” he said.

Bill Ray, president and CEO of the Asbury Foundation, said the charity’s priority is to advance health care.

“Nursing is hard, you’re not going to make a million dollars your first month,” Ray told the nursing students at the groundbreaking ceremony. “But you’re going to be happy. ... It is satisfying to help someone.”

Bonnie Harbaugh, a nursing professor at Southern Miss, said the facility is a wish come true.

“We’ve outgrown our present facility and the way we teach nursing has changed a lot,” said Harbaugh, who has been at Southern Miss since 1998. “Asbury Hall will allow us to use more active, hands-on teaching plus traditional methods. And we’ll also have more smart classrooms with electronic simulators.”

Nursing students were excited about the new facility as well.

Third-semester senior Eboné Brown, 21, of Jackson, said even though she will have graduated before Asbury Hall is opened, she plans to come back to Southern Miss to further her education.

“The new building will allow the Southern Miss’ nursing programs to expand and grow,” said Brown, who plans to eventually become a family nurse practitioner.

A 2011 graduate of Bailey Magnet High School in Jackson, Brown said she knew she always wanted to be a nurse.

“My mom works in the health care field and for as long as I can remember, I have always liked helping people,” said Brown, who plans to graduate in December 2015.

“The new School of Nursing and the faculty here at Southern Miss definitely makes coming back to school here a real option,” agreed second-semester senior Andrew McGinity, 21, of Bay St. Louis.

The 2011 St. Stanislaus High School graduate said he plans to eventually become an intensive care or emergency room nurse. He also plans to graduate in December 2015.

Asbury Hall

• The state-of-the-art facility will increase the College of Nursing’s square footage by 135 percent and provide additional space for faculty and students. It also will allow nursing enrollment to increase from the current 550 students to more than 800.

• The $31 million, three-story facility is scheduled to open in 2016.