The ribbon was cut Thursday on the new Health Science Education Complex on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus.
UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., and UNK Chancellor Douglas Kristensen, J.D., welcomed state leaders, including University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds, Ph.D., to the event.
Hundreds tour complex
More than 700 people toured the new complex Thursday during its grand opening and ribbon cutting.
The event culminated nearly three years of planning and activity to bring the new $19 million Health Science building, a partnership between UNMC and UNK, to reality.
The programs going into Health Science will fulfill a need for expanded education opportunities for nurses and new opportunities for allied health professions. Those professions include physician assistant, physical therapist, clinical laboratory scientist, radiographer and diagnostic medical sonographer, in addition to new graduate nursing and expanded undergraduate nursing opportunities at UNMC.
Dr. Bounds called the complex possibly the largest collaborative effort in the history of the university.
“It’s not just about the building. It’s all the things that will occur inside and out in the communities,” Dr. Bounds said. “What a great day for Kearney. What a great day for the University of Nebraska. What a great new addition to our university system.”
Chancellor Kristensen said the collaboration was tremendous.
“This is a historic start for all of us. Ribbon cuttings mark beginnings and the end of construction projects, but today is really the beginning,” he said.
“It represents much more than the beautiful brick, glass and chrome. It represents a true partnership, for both the medical center and the UNK campus. We could not have done this on our own. But together we produced a tremendous building.”
Dr. Gold said the project demonstrated all components of UNMC’s mission to lead the world in transforming lives for a healthier future.
“We lead the world through education, creating a health care workforce,” Dr. Gold said. “We lead the world through research by making sure we identify the cures for diseases of today and preventions and screenings for the diseases of tomorrow. We lead the world through critical care by making sure patients and families always have a place they know they can get care. But today epitomizes another way that we at the University of Nebraska system lead the world — and that’s through collaboration, partnerships and teamwork.
“This beautiful building represents a collaboration between architects and those who construct it,” he said. “It represents a wonderful collaboration between the taxpayers and the legislature of the state of Nebraska and the private business community and philanthropists who made this happen. It represents a collaboration between the great campuses at the University of Nebraska. It represents a collaboration between rural and urban needs for the health care workforce and health care delivery. It represents a collaboration between the health care professions.”
The grand opening of the $19 million, 46,000-square-foot education complex marks months of dreaming, planning, coalition-building, fundraising, and fine-tuning of programs and clinical and outreach opportunities that will be offered in this building on UNK’s western-most edge.