Nevada State College lays out plans for new education building
Nevada State College is set to expand its teaching program with a new building that will house classrooms and study space, as well as specialized centers such as a speech pathology lab and an early childhood education center.
Gov. Steve Sisolak approved a bill this month that will provide nearly $56 million for the construction of the 65,000-square-foot building, which will break ground by the end of this year and be completed within a couple of years, according to officials of the Henderson school.
“We are extremely grateful to the Legislature and Gov. Sisolak, as well as our community stakeholders, for their support of the education building,” Nevada State College President Bart Patterson said in a news release. “While addressing space issues the college faces due to tremendous growth, the funding will allow us to add critical-need programs for Nevada’s K-12 public education system.”
The new building fulfills one of the three main goals of the college’s Teachers Now campaign, which launched in 2018. In addition to securing a new School of Education building, the college plans to create a scholarship fund and a new academic programs for would-be teachers. Teachers Now raised an additional $6 million in donations for the building, on top of a previous $2.5 million in funding approved by Senate Bill 546 in 2017 that went to planning and design. The city of Henderson contributed $500,000 to the campaign.
A new building for the program was ranked as the state’s top capital need by the Nevada Board of Regents.
Nevada State College has approximately 5,000 students enrolled, representing a 30 percent increase in two years. That has made it the second-fastest growing baccalaureate institution in the U.S.
Contact Aleksandra Appleton at aappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702 383-0218. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.