Monday, April 7, 2025
4/7/2025
Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Address: Research and Sponsored Programs, Campus Box 3040, Normal, IL 61790-3040 Project Director Name: Judy Neubrander, Ed.D., FNP-BC Contact Phone Number: (309) 438-2528 Email Address: ResearchOffice@IllinoisState.edu Website Address: nursing.illinoisstate.edu Grant Funds Requested: $2,000,000 The Board of Trustees of Illinois State University (ISU) requests $2 million in capital funding toward completion of a new Nursing Innovation and Technology Simulation Lab to train an expanded cohort of nurses with exceptional preparation to meet our state’s crisis-level shortage. Nursing shortage Even prior to exacerbation by the Covid-19 pandemic, Illinois faced an annual need for over 9,800 nurses to care for an aging population and to replenish the nursing labor force, as nearly half of current RNs are over the age of 50. Nationally, over 1.2 million registered nurses will be needed by 2030 to address the country’s chronic nursing shortage. With its well-designed training space, the Nursing Innovation and Technology Simulation Lab will provide capacity to enroll and graduate an additional 110 baccalaureate students annually with a total goal of enrolling 1,200 nursing students by 2025. Our program will continue to include and support students with diverse racial, ethnic, economic, and learning profiles in line with the university’s long-standing commitments and values. New simulation lab facility ISU will build a new, 15,882 square foot state-of-the art facility, scheduled to open in fall 2024 and specifically designed to train nurses for the increasing technologic complexity of the health sector. Goals include: • Use simulation to bridge the gap between skills lab and theory, giving students the opportunity to apply newly acquired skills with high-tech patient simulators and standardized live participants, • Prepare students in a life-like setting to make complex, high-stakes decisions and face high-pressure clinical decisions, • Maintain architectural flexibility to permit future training in emerging technologies in such areas as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and wearable technology, • Attract top faculty who are seeking advanced training resources in a competitive market, • Maintain the well-earned, stellar reputation of ISU’s Mennonite College of Nursing for excellence, including our students’ 96 percent licensure pass rate, by far beating state and national averages of 82 percent. The planned project addition includes the addition of 15,882 gross square feet (GSF) of new program space and provides the following: • 4 Simulation Labs • 6 Student Debrief Rooms • Simulation and Audio-Visual Control Rooms • Classroom Space • 13 Faculty / 4 Advisor Offices • Meeting Rooms, including Student / Faculty Commons • Restrooms • Staff Breakroom • Mechanical Room Coupled with this expansion will be the purchase of new equipment including nursing simulation mannequins, audio-visual equipment, and technology infrastructure that will improve instructional outcomes for the student population. Once completed the combined structure will total 25,482 GSF. These improvements will allow the university to admit more nursing students and provide exemplary instruction to future nurses and other medical professionals.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).