Kassidy Fikes, Staff Contributor

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, Georgia Southern University President Shelley Nickel and others were present to cut the ribbon for the new Health Professions Academic Building on campus on Jan 3.

The new building is now home to the Waters College of Health Professions (WCHP). Nearby Ashmore Hall was also renovated. Ashmore Hall will now house the health professions staff, respiratory labs and other resources.

The new two-story building, which was budgeted to cost $22 million, is near the Fine Arts Hall on the Armstrong campus.

The new building houses a simulation suite, nursing skills and assessment labs, communication sciences and disorders labs, a cardiovascular intervention sciences lab and many more resources.

The new building will support more than 10 health professions programs. GSU awards provided by WCHP with Georgia Southern’s allied healthcare programs, represent almost one-fifth of all undergraduate healthcare degrees earned in Georgia.

“I am very pleased and very proud of the fact that we got this facility built,” said Deal. “It’s going to provide more training opportunities for students of all ages.”

“I think that this is going to be a great recruiting tool particularly for students who are interested in the health professions” – said Nickel.

The college is named for Armstrong alumni and Board of Regents chair Don and Cindy Waters, who donated $2 million to the college in 2017.