After a $2 million donation from Michael and Millie Brown of Leawood, Kan., and a $1 million donation from Richard Miller of Pittsburg, Kan., the Sinclair School of Nursing announced construction of a new $55 million 104,000-square-foot facility. Millie Brown is a graduate of the University of Missouri and Miller’s daughter graduated with a nursing degree from the university in 2012.

While announcing construction of their new building, University of Missouri stated that the new School of Nursing building will allow a 25 percent increase in enrollment and significant expansion of their research programs. The generous donations from Miller and the Browns were announced 3 days after the school of nursing received a $19.8 million federal grant to expand their study on how to improve care in nursing homes.

University of Missouri’s school of nursing is ranked #1 in the country by College Atlas, and it has now reached its capacity according interim chancellor Hank Foley. Foley compared the school of nursing to a fish, saying it’s grown to the size of its tank and in order to grow bigger, it needs a bigger tank.

The new nursing building will include larger classrooms, clinical seminar rooms, a nursing simulation center, and a research center. After the new building is completed, the school of nursing will be able to expand their number of enrolled students to 200, up from the 160 students that are currently enrolled. With nursing employment projections predicting a shortage of 1 million nurses by 2022, the new building will lessen that shortage in Missouri.

Sinclair School of Nursing has committed $10 million to the new building project in addition to the new donations from Miller and the Browns. MU seeks to collect the remaining $14.5 million in pledges in time to seek legislative support for construction starting in 2017.

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Brown is aware that to increase student enrollment, the school of nursing needs more space. Hundreds of applicants are turned away from the nursing school each year and the donation from him and his wife can help lessen that number. More pupils will bring in the tuition needed to cover the cost of more faculty; the school simply needs more space to begin doing so.

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