Demolition is underway near the heart of the Emporia State campus as the university gets ready for a major new construction project.
Central Morse Hall is in the early demolition phase to make way for a $21 million Nursing and Student Wellness complex — which just got its second massive grant award over the past three months. The Sunderland Foundation, a Kansas City nonprofit foundation focusing on brick-and-mortar investments especially for higher education, health care and hospitals, has granted the project $5 million, matching the Jones Trust’s $5 million grant for the project announced two months ago.
The initial goal was bond out as much as $15 million of the new complex. Facilities Director Bill McKernan says the ESU Foundation is still “exploring” other grant avenues that could reduce the needed bond amount even further. McKernan says the goal is to have demolition done over the next month.
This comes as there are roughly 3,300 open nursing positions across Kansas. Emporia State anticipates over one million new nurses will be needed by 2030 to fill shortages across the country. Click here for KVOE News’ coverage of the Sunderland Foundation’s grant announcement.
