Next week kicks off the first full school year that nursing students will spend in newly renovated facilities at East Mississippi Community College’s Golden Triangle campus.
The first two phases of a three-phase, $4 million project to expand the Division of Nursing and Health Sciences wrapped up earlier this year, while the second half is expected to start soon.
Jamonicia Johnson, director for nursing programs and associate dean of health sciences, said the new space is a gamechanger for the students in the program.
“I’m just excited about being able to offer the new space, more space for the students and being able to accept more students,” Johnson told The Dispatch on Friday. “Our mindset is opportunity happens here, so that’s definitely what we’re doing with the renovations and being able to have a broader selection of courses that we offer as well as having the space to do that.”
Enrollment to EMCC’s associate degree nursing program has seen steady growth over the past five years. EMCC President Scott Alsobrooks said since 2019, fall enrollment has increased from 49 students to 127 students this fall across all EMCC campuses. The Mayhew facility expansion, he said, will help continue that growth.
“What this will do is basically double the size of your nursing program at (the Golden Triangle campus) and give us the ability to add three or four allied health programs,” Alsobrooks told the EMCC Board of Trustees during its regular meeting on Monday.
For the $4 million project, EMCC received $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding appropriated by AccelerateMS, as well as $500,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission. The remaining cost was covered by the college through funds available from previous bond issues by the state legislature.
Conversations about the expansion started in 2019 primarily due to the nation’s nursing shortage. The field is projected to need more than 275,000 additional nurses between 2020 and 2030, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the same time, Alsobrooks said the school had to turn away nursing applicants because there was no space to accommodate them. Then when the pandemic hit, the need to expand became even more necessary, he said.
“The pandemic comes along and just throws fuel on that fire,” he said. “So we opened The Communiversity (on Highway 82 between Columbus and Starkville) … and moved many programs from the Mayhew campus just up the street to The Communiversity, which freed up a lot of space for us.”
With space available, renovations began in 2023. The first two phases, Alsobrooks said, focused on increasing classroom availability. Some standard-size classrooms were combined to create lecture halls that would accommodate larger class sizes. Other general-use classrooms received a small facelift with new flooring, Alsobrooks said.
Additional beds were added to the program’s skills lab, which also has a nurses station and simulation manikins students use to practice patient care. When students moved into the new space in January of this year, Johnson said they were in awe.
“To come back after Christmas break to their own space where everyone was together, they were very very excited,” she said. “(Having their own space) just helps keep that close connection, which is what community college is intended for.”
Johnson said the program now has six classrooms instead of three, four additional beds in the skills lab and three more faculty members that had to be hired to accommodate increasing enrollment.
Further renovations
Phase three of the expansion will focus on renovating the former Center for Manufacturing Technology and Excellence, which previously housed the programs that were relocated to The Communiversity.
Alsobrooks said that phase is expected to start in the coming weeks once a bid is accepted. Renovating the CMTE will take a little more effort due to high ceilings and some mechanical issues with the HVAC system, he said.
Johnson said the additional space will house an EMT classroom with an ambulance simulation, administrative offices and extra room in which the school is looking to add more health science programs. What additional programs that might be is undecided, but Alsobrooks said respiratory technologies, physical therapy assistant programs and dental programs are all good candidates.
“In a college district of our size, I think we’re a little behind on that,” he said. “Once we get the space done, we’ll start putting together proposals (for new programs) for our national accreditors.”
Alsobrooks said January 2026 is the hopeful date for moving students into the new space once renovations are complete. A major goal of this renovation, aside from increasing enrollment, is to graduate more skilled students who are likely to join the local workforce, he said.
“We want more students that are choosing careers and professions that keep them in the Golden Triangle,” he said. “Career technical-type graduates and associates of applied science graduates tend to stay in their home region at a really, really high rate.”
Johnson said the majority of graduates from the associate degree nursing program end up working in local hospitals and clinics. It’s a win-win situation for the college and the community, Alsobrooks said.
“These people will buy a home, live here and become a tax paying citizen making a good living,” he said. “We talk about the brain drain and population loss for states such as our state. … Community colleges and what we’re doing are an important factor in … being a part of the solution to help our state grow and keep young people here.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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