State Budget Committee OKs health professions building for Ball State

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Sue Errington (D-Muncie) said the State Budget Committee voted today to allow the Ball State University Board of Trustees to proceed with the new Health Professions Building project.

The $62.5 million project was approved during the committee’s meeting at Hanover College.

“This is an exciting project that will bring together health care programs like nursing, counseling psychology, dietetics and nutrition, speech and audiology, health science, social work, and athletic training,” explained Errington. “The new building will not only facilitate academic training and instruction, but also benefit community outreach programs. Because of their close proximity, the various departments will be able to have greater collaboration and problem solving in areas that span the health care disciplines. The additional space created by this project will enable programs, such as the nursing program, to continue to grow and allow more students to be admitted into those programs.”

The 165,000-square-foot building is the first phase of the university’s plan to create a new health and life sciences academic quad. The new facility will house teaching and research areas as well as clinic facilities. Some of the outreach programs include the counseling practicum clinic, neuropsychology laboratory, speech language clinic, audiology clinic, and psychoeducational diagnostic intervention clinic. The building site location has not been finalized.

The multiphase project also includes the future renovation or replacement of the locations that house programs in the Cooper Science Complex.

The Indiana General Assembly in the 2015 legislative session approved construction funding for Phase 1 of the project through Fee Replacement Bonding Authority.