State Budget Committee votes to proceed with new Health Professions Building project

DN PHOTO SAMANTHA BRAMMER
DN PHOTO SAMANTHA BRAMMER

The State Budget Committee voted to allow the Ball State Board of Trustees to proceed with the new Health Professions Building project.

The $62.5 million project will be a 165,000-square-foot building that will house classrooms, laboratories, simulation labs/suites and 19 clinics.

The building is part of the first phase of the university's plan to create a new health and life sciences academic squad, according to an Indiana House of Representatives press release.

Some of the future outreach programs will include the counseling practicum clinic, neuropsychology laboratory, speech language clinic, audiology clinic and psychoeducational diagnostic intervention clinic.

The multiphase project also includes the future renovation or replacement of the locations that house the programs in the Cooper Science complex, according to the press release.

“The new building will not only facilitate academic training and instruction, but also benefit community outreach programs. Because of their close proximity, the various departments will be able to have greater collaboration and problem solving in areas that span the health care disciplines," Rep. Sue Errington said in the press release. "The additional space created by this project will enable programs, like nursing, to continue to grow and allow more students to be admitted into those programs.”

The exact construction site has not been finalized.

Former Ball State President Paul W. Ferguson was a main proponent for the College of Health, but the project redesign happened before he could see it go through.

“Providing a contemporary teaching, research and clinic facility to educate the health care workers of the future is another significant demonstration of our commitment to serve our students as well as the citizens of Indiana,” Ferguson said in 2015 in a university news article. “This new building will provide a unique learning environment that will help foster collaboration and problem-solving across the health sciences disciplines.”

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