TTUHSC El Paso Breaks Ground for New Nursing Building

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing (GGHSON) today (Aug. 19) will break ground on a new building at the corner of N. Concepcion Street and Alberta Avenue in El Paso.

“With the generous support of the El Paso community, TTUHSC El Paso has been instrumental in transforming health care along the border through its roles in education, research and patient care,” said Texas Tech University System Chancellor Kent Hance.

The new 34,000-square-foot facility, which will be located directly across from the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine Medical Education Building, will include a high-tech environment for faculty and students; 12,000 square feet of simulation labs; four classrooms; and collaborative learning spaces.

The GGHSON currently operates out of a leased building at 415 E. Yandell Drive, offering students a Traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program or an alternate-entry, 12-month Second Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program.

The GGHSON responded to a severe nursing shortage in the greater El Paso region by admitting its first class of Traditional BSN students in 2011. The school now has a total of 116 students and 13 faculty members, and GGHSON Founding Dean Jeanne Novotny, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, says that number is expected to grow.

“We are dedicated to expanding the quality and size of the faculty, launching new degree programs and positioning the school as a leader in academic nursing,” Novotny said. “We will expand student enrollment by opening access to a world-class nursing education for a diverse, highly competitive student body that will focus on the health care needs of the borderland.”

The GGHSON was established through a generous donation from the Hunt Family Foundation in 2010. The school was named the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing in honor of Gayle, the wife of El Paso businessman and philanthropist Woody Hunt.
The construction of the GGHSON building was made possible through funding from the Medical Center of the Americas (MCA) Foundation. The area where the building is located is intended to enable the redevelopment of a noncontiguous subset of the approximate 440 acres of land included in the MCA master plan.

The GGHSON is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, an autonomous accrediting agency that contributes to the public’s health by assessing and identifying programs that engage in effective educational practices.
Administrators anticipate the school will grow to 300 students in five years to counteract the long-term nursing shortage in the medically underserved El Paso region.

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