Pace Receives Grant For College of Health Professions

PLEASANTVILLE, NY —Pace University has received a $1 million grant from New York to support its creation of a 'Healthcare Hub' to provide both pre-licensure and advanced practice nurses with a modern learning environment.

The new center will be on the Pleasantville campus at the College of Health Professions.

"We are profoundly grateful to have the opportunity to expand our state-of-the-art simulation center to accommodate more students to address the growing shortage of registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and nursing faculty," Dean Harriet Feldman told Patch.

The grant is among $57.2 million awarded for capital projects at 35 colleges and universities under the state's Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program. Of that, $10.5 million grants was targeted to support nursing and other health care programs. Campuses that receive grants are required to invest at least $3 of their own funds for every $1 of state funds they receive.

New York is rebuilding following the coronavirus pandemic with investments targeted to create jobs and opportunities in health care and higher education, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in announcing the grants.

Pace will finish modernizing and expanding classroom capacity at Leinhard Hall, where its School of Nursing is based.

"The new Healthcare Hub will also provide educational space for active learning, vital to what today’s students need in nursing and allied health professions," said Feldman, dean and professor at the College of Health Professions and the Lienhard School of Nursing at Pace.

Lienhard Hall was constructed in 1968 and is home to CHP’s simulation labs, practical exam rooms, lecture hall and the majority of the school’s classrooms.

Most of the first floor has been renovated within the last seven years to create state-of-the-art simulation labs, exam rooms, and common spaces for students, college officials said. More recently, more classroom space on the second floor has been renovated to create lab space and larger capacity classrooms for the college's growing degree programs in health care.

To finish creating the Healthcare Hub, the college will rebuild the remaining classroom spaces and vacated staff and faculty spaces to turn the whole into a modern learning environment with high-tech instructional tools, labs and collaborative space for doctoral programs.

As Westchester County continues to build a reputation as a biotech and healthcare destination and hub, this will allow Pace to produce a highly-skilled local workforce and contribute to the region's ongoing economic development, officials said.