Nov. 7—Fundraising for a $38 million Health Science Innovation Center to be built at Missouri Southern State University is close enough to its goal that university officials said they will break ground on the project in the spring.
Brad Hodson, executive vice president of Missouri Southern, said university officials and a committee for the project are conducting the schematic design phase of the center now and will soon move into final design of the building.
The goal for the fundraising campaign is $15 million as the local match for $22.5 million provided by the state.
“We’re now at $13 million and confident we will have that match and move forward with groundbreaking in spring,” Hodson said in providing an update of the project in an informal meeting of the Joplin City Council on Monday night.
The council in December agreed to provide $1.5 million of the city’s $13.8 million direct grant from the American Rescue Plan Act toward the project.
Design is being done by CGA Architects of Joplin working with Pulse Design Group and DLR Group, both of Kansas City, for the 70,000-square-foot building, Hodson said.
The health science center will include a simulation hospital, skills labs, anatomy and physiology labs, an expanded cadaver lab, and research space.
The university’s president, Dean Van Galen, also spoke at the council meeting about the university’s effort to expand its mission.
The university has applied to state education officials to add health and life sciences and immersive learning experiences to its statewide mission of providing international education, a focus since 1995.
The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education recently approved the request, which will go to the state Legislature next year for final authorization.
Overall, the university is seeing an increase in new student enrollment and student retention, Van Galen said. The uptick in new student enrollment this year was 6.5% and retention of students is the highest it’s been in about 17 years.
He said the university is continuing to build new undergraduate programs and new master’s degree programs in fields such as data analytics and health care. There were 100% pass rates in a number of the university’s programs, including nursing.
Van Galen thanked the council for its financial support of the health science center and for the city’s $80,000 contribution to help fund the Joplin Regional Alliance for Healthcare and Health Science. That is a coalition that has commissioned a strategic plan to spur long-term growth and economic development related to health care and health science.
City Manager Nick Edwards and Mayor Pro Tem Keenan Cortez represent the city on the coalition.
Additional members of the effort are the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, and local medical and education institutions.
