JBU Breaks Ground on $6 Million Facility For Nursing Program

John Brown University broke ground Monday morning in Siloam Springs on a $6 million nursing education facility.

The approximately 21,000 SF facility will be built on the west side of campus between Bell Science Hall and the Balzer Technology Center.

It is expected to be complete by fall 2016. The two-story building will include three classrooms, clinic teaching space with four exam rooms, four simulation patient rooms, two health assessment labs, a computer lab, offices and study lounges.

The Rogers office of Nabholz Construction is the general contractor.

BU was approved in September 2013 by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing to begin recruiting students into the pre-nursing phase of the program. The first 35 pre-nursing students are enrolled and will begin the program this fall.

Completing the pre-nursing phase and the nursing program is expected to take, on average, about four years.

The first cohort of students come from nine states and as far away as Indonesia, Thailand and the United Kingdom, according to a JBU news release.

“We have a terrific group of students,” said Dr. Ellen Odell, director of the new program. “They are diverse in their interests and goals and are excited to start taking nursing courses.”

Odell previously worked for the University of Arkansas and served as director of the Har-Ber School of Nursing. She nearly three decades of clinical experience and 15 years of experience as a nurse educator.

JBU said fundraising is already under way for another $4 million to complete the facility and program endowment.