College of Health: Interprofessional collaboration

<p>The College of Health is the newest campus building for students in programs such as nursing, kinesiology, psychology and speech pathology. The college was launched in 2016 and construction will be completed by the spring of 2019. <strong>Rachel Ellis, DN</strong></p>

The College of Health is the newest campus building for students in programs such as nursing, kinesiology, psychology and speech pathology. The college was launched in 2016 and construction will be completed by the spring of 2019. Rachel Ellis, DN

Editor's note: In honor of the university's centennial year, The Daily News is counting down 100 days to the university's celebration Sept. 6 with 100 of Ball State's most famous traditions and figures. Check back each day to read about Cardinal history.  

In an effort to combine similar fields of study and bring together students and faculty for more collaborative learning experiences, Ball State introduced the College of Health in the fall of 2016.

The college offers seven degree tracks and brings together many departments including Psychology, Social Psychology, Counseling, Nutrition and Health Science, Social Work, Speech Pathology and Audiology, Military Science, the School of Kinesiology and the School of Nursing. 

“The marketplace has a significant need for skilled and adaptable professionals who are clinically knowledgeable, adept at critical thinking and problem solving and devoted to lifelong learning,” Mitchell Whaley, founding dean of the college, said in a press release. “These are exactly the kinds of individuals the College of Health will graduate.”

A number of clinics, centers and laboratories are included within the college, including an adult physical fitness program, audiology clinic, biomechanics lab, counseling practicum clinic, exercise science laboratory, nutrition assessment lab, dietitian consulting services, social science research center and speech language clinic.

After three years of planning, the university broke ground on the College of Health Professions Building Sept. 21, 2017. 

The project cost $62.5 million and is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2019. Once opened, the 167,000 square foot building will feature a resource center, an athletic training lab, exam rooms, simulation suites and state of the art technology.

The building will allow further collaboration opportunities within the college and increase the number of students the college can accept and educate. In a previous article from The Daily News, Jim Lowe, associate vice president for facilities planning and management, said the number of students brought into the nursing program will be increased by a 30 percent capacity. 

“Given the importance of health and life sciences to our state and nation, and the importance of STEM education to our students and their future careers, our new College of Health will help establish Ball State’s leadership in this vital field, while setting our students apart in the job market,” Rick Hall, chair of the Board of Trustees, said during a board meeting in Jan. 2016.

Read more centennial content here.  

Contact Brooke Kemp with comments at bmkemp@bsu.edu or on Twitter @brookemkemp.

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