myrgv.com/local-news/2024/01/26/am-ceremoniously-starts-construction-on-new-valley-medical-program/Ground was broken Thursday on the Texas A&M Health Nursing Education and Research Building, inching the Rio Grande Valley closer to recruiting, educating and producing more medical experts amid a shortage of helpers.
This new addition to the Texas A&M University Higher Education Center at McAllen, which opened in 2018, will focus on its school of nursing programs and veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences research and outreach.
The $49.9 million facility, which will be nearly 61,000 square feet, is scheduled to open in the spring of 2026. University officials said that $20 million of the project’s cost came from the 2021 Texas Legislature’s $29 million investment into A&M for building student enrollment in fields such as nursing.
It will include four nursing classrooms, student study areas, a 10,000-square-foot clinical simulation center and space for a veterinary clinic and research lab.
“We at the Texas A&M System are dedicated to the people of South Texas and Rio Grande Valley,” Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp said in a news release. “And that is why we are investing in the region — and its health — with a new facility for nursing and health-related research.”
A&M now joins other higher learning institutions in the Valley — such as UTRGV and South Texas College, which has the largest and most robust nursing program in the region — that prioritize the training and education of medical personnel.
According to Dr. Leann Horsley, dean of A&M’s School of Nursing, the new facility — which will be located on the west side of the Higher Education Center campus in McAllen — will provide nursing students with the resources needed to grow that medical community.
“Our clinical partners in the Valley have made it clear that the future of public health is directly related to the availability of highly trained nurses who understand how to deliver care in this area,” Horsley said in the release. “Our Aggie nurses studying in McAllen will enjoy access to expert faculty, cutting-edge simulation training and clinical experiences right here in the communities they will serve upon graduation.”
The school hopes to enroll around 50 students per semester where they can pursue a Bachelor of Science degree.
While the hope for the nursing program is to address the nationwide nursing shortage which school officials termed as “critical,” A&M’s School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences will also serve as a home base and resource for faculty and students who are researching transboundary infectious diseases, large animal biosecurity, zoonotic diseases, veterinary public health and bilingual public outreach in South Texas.
According to Manny Vela, associate vice president and chief operating officer of the Higher Education Center in McAllen, the new facility will also allow them to facilitate “programmatic partnerships” on the border.
“…Through the McAllen facility, we can further our efforts, and Texas A&M’s land-grant mission, by promoting animal health in underserved communities, enhancing student recruitment, providing specialized patient consultation in the Rio Grande Valley through telemedicine, and promoting border health,” Vela said.
