With the structural framing complete, UCF and its community partners celebrated with a hard hat tour inside the new state-of-the-art facility in Lake Nona.
On a bright sunny day, UCF and its community partners celebrated a major milestone in achieving a brighter, healthier future for Central Florida. More than 75 guests visited UCF’s Academic Health Sciences Campus in Lake Nona on September 24, 2024, for an inside look at the Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion, which has completed its structural framing and now more than 40% complete.
The state-of-the-art facility, which is anticipated to open for Fall 2025, will allow UCF to graduate 150 additional newly licensed nurses to address the nursing shortage. Florida is projected to have a shortage of 37,400 registered nurses by 2035.
UCF is already helping fuel a talent pipeline of compassionate and skilled nurses. Each year, UCF graduates 260 newly licensed nurses and 85% of its more 16,000 Knight nurse alumni live and work in Florida.
UCF, named one of the nation’s most innovative universities, is innovating through industry partnerships to address the nursing shortage and solve healthcare’s greatest challenges.
Thanks to investments by the State of Florida, founding donor Dr. Phillips Charities and other community and charitable organizations, UCF is building the College of Nursing for the future with the Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion.
In attendance for the celebration were UCF’s Pegasus Partners: Addition Financial, AdventHealth, Orlando Health and Nemours Children’s Health.
Additional partners on-site to celebrate included the City of Orlando, Roslyn and Jody Burttram, the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation, the Martin Andersen-Gracia Andersen Foundation, Parrish Medical Center, the Voss family, and Steven’s Kitchens.
“The nursing shortage is a community problem, and the community is coming together to create solutions as you will start to see today.”
Mary Lou Sole,
Dean of UCF’s College of Nursing
The event included a hard hat tour with members of the construction team, including HuntonBrady Architects, DPR Construction and Ayers Saint Gross who shared details of the 90,000-square-foot facility.
Guests of the event toured the future Collaboration Concourse on the first floor, which includes the Martin Andersen-Gracia Andersen Foundation Study Cafe and three large learning studios named after UCF Pegasus Partners and community healthcare partners AdventHealth, Orlando Health, and Nemours Children’s Health.
The hard hat tour also included the showcase entrance and lobby, the Roslyn and Jody Burttram Student Success Resource Room, and the Helene Fuld Health Trust STIM Center. The innovative center, which will leverage UCF’s global leadership in healthcare simulation, will occupy space on the second and third floor, and account for approximately 30% of the new facility.
During the tour, UCF leaders, faculty and staff as well as community guests had an opportunity to leave their mark on the future of nursing by signing a column.
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