Texas Woman’s University is opening a new state-of-the-art Health Science Center to increase the number of health science graduates, address hospital understaffing and provide improved health education for students.
The new 136,000 square foot multi-disciplinary building will fully open on Feb. 12 with a projected 30 percent increase in health professional graduates over the next 10 years. The facility features the Neva Hudiburgh Cochran Wellness Kitchen, clinical training areas and advanced simulation labs.
“Everything is shared, and so the students learn to work together that way,” said Noralyn Pickens, assistant dean of the College of Health Sciences and the College of Nursing.
Hospitals nationwide are facing understaffing and underfunding issues as the field faces a shortage of workers, according to the American Hospital Association. The center is projected to graduate an additional 240 nursing professionals and 55 physical therapy professionals each year, in addition to the approximately 2,000 medical field graduates TWU currently contributes to the workforce.
This contribution to the workforce is supposed to benefit the communities in and around North Texas. This care will also benefit Denton residents, as three interprofessional clinics will open for community care.
“We are really recruiting and trying to have people want to stay in their communities,” Pickens said. “Especially those who come from these North Texas areas.”
TWU is attempting to further address these issues within North Texas.
This includes the Neva Hudiburgh Cochran Wellness Kitchen, which will train students in nutrition, life skills and cooking. It will serve as a space for demonstrations and hands-on teaching.
“They’re actually going to have either the students do demonstrations and bring people from the community who are interested,” said Neva Hudiburgh Cochran, an award-winning registered dietitian nutritionist and TWU alumna. “Or bring in outside dietitians […] and they will do demonstrations or classes for people in the community.”
This test kitchen will work to teach students and members of the community to be more confident about nutritional skills and abilities.
Students and culinary professionals will also use this kitchen to learn how to demonstrate and teach nutrition education. This will provide more instruction to the local public, as many of these demonstrations will be open to those who are interested.
“It makes people excited when they can actually see I can do this,” Cochran said. “Accessibility is accessible for me to actually accomplish in my own kitchen at home.”
The Health Science Center is focused on multidisciplinary development in several different fields, including occupational therapy, nutrition and speech language pathology.
Pickens said this multidisciplinary approach to health science education will lead to health professionals who work better together.
The center is also attempting to bring various tools to the students’ individual training with eight artificial intelligence-integrated simulation bays that utilize virtual reality headsets and environments. It will also have several therapy environments, including a clinic, gym and counseling spaces.
“In the clinic, the whole building is technology-infused, and we’ll be able to provide telehealth services,” Pickens said. “Through the two clinics that we have, the speech and hearing clinic and the counseling and marriage family clinic.”
The facility will allow TWU to expand its College of Health Science programs, which already rank highly nationally in several different health science fields. Its highest rankings include first in Texas in occupational therapy, second in Texas for speech-language pathology and third nationally for their nutrition master’s programs.
“I do think that having a building that is specialized for health education will bring a better learning experience,” TWU psychology major Isis Santos said.
The Health Sciences Center is already being used for several different purposes, including a speech and hearing clinic, counseling and family therapy and an institute for women’s health.
The architecture company, SmithGroup, worked with the university on the new Science and Technology building, alongside contractor AECOM Hunt, to start building in September 2023, with a soft opening occurring two years later in September 2025.
“The building really lives out our purpose at Texas Woman’s University, which is to educate the woman, empower the world,” Pickens said. “The idea that we are able to open up the workforce and provide more opportunities for our students.”