A long-awaited renovation of the old Sherrod Library will give the ETSU’s College of Nursing a new home in fall 2006.
Construction of the $11 million project is set to begin this fall.
“The plans have been completed and approved,” said Dr. Patricia Smith, dean of the College of Nursing. “We are very excited about the new building and the additional space.”
With the largest nursing enrollment in the state, the college has already outgrown the present facilities located in Lamb Hall.
“We need the space now,” Smith said, citing class sizes in 2000-level courses that run anywhere from 80 to 100 students. “There’s a class using (an auditorium) with over 100 students.”
The old Sherrod Library building will provide space for 11 new classrooms, and Student Health Services will open a student clinic three times the size of the one currently in operation.
“The building will allow for class and lab space that is sorely needed,” Smith said.
The renovation of the building will also provide space for the Office of Information Technology, the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, and the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services. ETSU’s new Sherrod Library opened in spring 1999.
The renovated facility will also allow for an additional 50 percent increase in enrollment to meet a local and national shortage in nurses.
“There is a great demand for nurses,” Smith said, adding that the college is having no trouble finding qualified applicants due to the publicity given to the shortage.