William Carey University officials broke ground on a new College of Health Sciences building at the Hattiesburg campus on Friday.
The building, which is set to open in 2021, will encompass more than 70,000 square feet of classrooms, offices and lecture halls.
“This will be the largest building that William Carey has ever constructed on any campus,” said Dr. Tommy King, president. “It’s a big step for us.”
King said Carey first entered the health care field in the late 1960s, when then-William Carey College merged with the Mather School of Nursing in New Orleans.
“For many, many years, nursing was the only health care program we had. It expanded from Hattiesburg to the Gulf Coast, and then we had the program in New Orleans prior to (Hurricane) Katrina,” he said.
The New Orleans program was dropped due to low enrollment after the hurricane, but, during the groundbreaking, King mentioned Carey’s recent moves back into Louisiana.
“Nursing has expanded. In fact, just one week ago today, we graduated our first class of nurses at Baton Rouge General Hospital in Baton Rouge, so we’re back in Louisiana providing nursing training at that site,” he said.
King said the establishment of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, the state’s second medical school, was a major step forward for the university. The medical college opened in 2010 at the Hattiesburg campus.
“After nursing, the most important step we took was the College of Osteopathic Medicine,” he said. “It will be doubling its class size over the next three years, so we’re happy about that.”
In recent years, Carey has also added physical therapy, pharmacy, health administration and education, and health information programs.
“Health care is the direction William Carey will be taking for the next few years, and the growth of the program made it necessary for us to have more space,” said King.
Dr. Janet Williams, Carey’s associate vice president for health sciences, said the building will have a mighty impact on health education in the region.
“This is a huge day for us … it’s a life event that has great magnitude for us and for health care in our area and in our region,” she said.
This story will be updated for the Thursday edition of The PineBelt NEWS.
