University of Missouri officials today announced the MU Sinclair School of Nursing will be receiving $3 million towards construction of a new academic nursing facility. Michael and Millie Brown are giving $2 million for the new building, while Richard Miller is giving $1 million.
The new proposed academic building will feature larger classrooms, clinical seminar rooms and research and innovation center, as well as an entry space for celebrations and receptions.
Officials estimate the entire facility will cost approximately $55 million to complete, with funds raised from private gifts, state matching funds, and $10 million in matching funds from the Sinclair School of Nursing.
Michael Brown, a member of MU’s comprehensive campaign cabinet, said that with these donations and the completion of this facility, the Sinclair School of Nursing will be able to serve more prospective students.
“We talk about or census going down, and we’ve got less students at MU this year, or next year than we will have next year,” said Brown. “And yet we’re turning away hundreds of people who are qualified to be nurses because we don’t have the facilities to teach them.”
Brown said what convinced him to donate was the leadership behind the nursing school, Dean Judith Miller.
“I’m not going to invest in something that doesn’t have a leader that can make that thing work,” said Brown. “It’s not about the money, it‘s about the leadership plus the money. And we’ve got a leader who can really make some changes.”
Richard Miller, currently serving as tri-chair of MU’s comprehensive fundraising campaign, says his daughter Grace’s experiences at MU helped inspire his gift to the nursing school.
“She fit in well at the [Golden Girl] clinic, but that wasn’t enough to sell Grace on Mizzou,” said Miller. “As soon as she saw the nursing school and met some of the instructors though, that’s what she wanted to do.”
Judith Miller, dean of the Sinclair School of Nursing, said to the donators that their generous gifts are helping to spearhead the project and move it from a dream to a reality.
“Be assured your investment in us is one that’s well placed, considering the caliber of our graduates,” said Miller. “Because we can continue to produce top-notch nurses and discoveries will just continue in this wonderful new facility.”
According to Miller, the US will be facing a shortage of one million nurses by 2022, a statistic that helped encourage the funding of a new MU nursing facility.