The University of Central Florida is building a 90,000-square-foot facility in Orlando for its College of Nursing.
The university says the Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion will be erected on the Academic Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona, about 25 miles south of Central Florida's main Orlando campus.
The new space, scheduled to open in 2025, will enable the university to expand its program and address a critical nursing shortage.
It will have two times the space now available in leased facilities and will have three times the number of state-of-the-art laboratories.
Central Florida says it produces more newly licensed RNs in the State University System of Florida, but a serious shortage persists.
The Florida Hospital Association projects a state shortage of 37,400 registered nurses by 2035. To address this shortage, an additional 2,300 RNs would need to enter the workforce in Florida each year. Fueling the challenge is a lack of nurse educators to teach and a lack of space to grow programs.
Once the Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion opens, UCF will graduate an additional 150 new nurses annually.
The building will have flexible instructional space, space to study and collaborate, and innovative simulation and skills labs.
