Hospital systems partner with UCF in scholarships, donations toward new College of Nursing campus

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Artist rendering of the 90,000-square-foot College of Nursing building planned for the Medical City in Lake Nona.

ORLANDO, Fla. - With assistance from two of Central Florida's largest hospital systems, the University of Central Florida announced that its College of Nursing is one step closer to a new building planned for the UCF Academic Health Sciences Center in Lake Nona.

AdventHealth and Orlando Health have each committed $5 million in contributions towards the $70 million needed to break ground on the project in what is known as Orlando’s Medical City. To date, $26 million has been raised through philanthropic donations, which will be combined with roughly $44 million by the State of Florida, the university said.

Each hospital’s gift will also help establish a scholarship program that will provide tuition assistance to 10 senior BSN students annually and allow for a paid summer internship program for an additional 10 to 15 students annually.

AdventHealth and Orlando Health employ more than 12,000 nurses combined at a total of 34 hospitals across Central Florida, the university said. Both systems will rely on UCF to recruit the additional talent needed to address a national nursing shortage.

"Ensuring we have well-educated, highly trained and skilled nurses to meet Florida’s growing health care needs is a pressing challenge for the entire health care sector," says Randy Haffner, CEO of AdventHealth Florida. "Partnering with leading educational institutions such as UCF is absolutely vital to ensuring these efforts are successful."

"Like many healthcare systems across the state and the nation, Orlando Health constantly evaluates and adjusts strategies in order to deliver exceptional patient care," says Karen Frenier, senior vice president, human resources and chief nurse executive, Orlando Health. "We are excited about our long-term partnership with UCF as we continue to strategically plan nursing workforce opportunities for the future."

Artist rendering of the 90,000-square-foot College of Nursing building planned for the Medical City in Lake Nona.

The University of Central Florida is working with Orlando-based HuntonBrady Architects in the design of the new 90,000-square-foot College of Nursing building.

HuntonBrady Architects has recently worked with both AdventHealth and Orlando Health in the designs of healthcare facilities. Among those are the AdventHealth Innovation Tower, a 324,900-square-foot, 12-story clinical research building for AdventHealth and the Rothman Orthopedic Institute, located on the AdventHealth Orlando campus, and Orlando Health Horizon West Hospital, a 220,000-square-foot, six-story state-of-the-art tower that expands the Horizon West Emergency Department/Medical Office Building campus into a full-service hospital to serve west Orange County.

UCF said it currently graduates more newly licensed RNs annually than any other institution in the State University System, with approximately 260 nurses entering the workforce each year. Last year, UCF added 100 students beyond its usual enrollment. When complete, the College of Nursing building will be large enough for the college to increase enrollment by at least 50%.

"We are extremely thankful to these leading health systems for their commitment to UCF and their generous gifts to fuel the future. Together, we will continue to make our Central Florida communities healthier," said Mary Lou Sole, dean of the UCF College of Nursing.

Located approximately 25 miles south of the main UCF Orlando campus, the 50-acre, state-of-the-art UCF Academic Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona is also home to the UCF College of Medicine and Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences.

AdventHealth and Orlando Health are joined by Dr. Phillips Charities, Helene Fuld Health Trust, Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation, Parrish Medical Center, and VNA Foundation in support of the project.