New building underway for Capstone College of Nursing

TUSCALOOSA | For years, nursing students at the University of Alabama’s Capstone College of Nursing have attended classes all over campus with no centralized building for their studies.

That will change in 2010 when a new $20 million building for the nursing program is completed. Officials and those in the nursing community hope that the new building will interest young students in nursing at a time when fewer are choosing to enter the field.

The nationwide nursing shortage that has been called a crisis by some is expected to worsen as baby boomers grow older and require more health care.

“I’m confident that this building will be an excellent recruiting tool in attracting the best and brightest to attend the Capstone,” said Katie Hyde, a student and ambassador of the college.

Enrollment at the school has increased 213 percent since 2000, said Dean Sara Barger. There are 1,300 undergraduate and 150 graduate students enrolled in the program now.

Projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published in the November 2007 “Monthly Labor Review” indicate that more than 1 million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2016. Government analysts project that nearly 600,000 new nursing positions will be created by that year -- making nursing the country’s top profession in terms of projected job growth, according to the American Association of Colleges and Nursing.

It is the first time since UA’s nursing program was established in the 1950s that there will be a building on campus dedicated to nursing education, Barker said.

For the full story, read Saturday's Tuscaloosa News.