Peter Schorsch
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is furthering plans to build a new building at Lake Nona to provide nursing education and foster innovation and collaboration, with $10 million in combined investments from AdventHealth and Orlando Health.
The new facility will enable the UCF College of Nursing to graduate hundreds of additional nurses annually to care for patients throughout the region and state.
The building will also expand the college’s capacity to educate future nursing faculty members needed to educate the nurses of tomorrow.
AdventHealth and Orlando Health each committed $5 million to support the design and construction of the new facility, making them UCF’s inaugural Pegasus Partners. The funding will also help provide tuition assistance and additional paid internships for UCF nursing students.
“AdventHealth and Orlando Health have been valued, transformative partners to UCF as we collaborate to support the health and well-being of our community,” UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright said. “Their continued partnership and generous investment in UCF’s College of Nursing will make a difference in our region for generations to come.”
Employing a combined 12,000 nurses at 34 hospitals in Central Florida, AdventHealth and Orlando Health rely on UCF to provide a talent pipeline to combat the national nursing shortage.
“Ensuring we have well-educated, highly trained and skilled nurses to meet Florida’s growing health care needs is a pressing challenge for the entire health care sector,” AdventHealth Florida CEO Randy Haffner said. “Partnering with leading educational institutions such as UCF is absolutely vital to ensuring these efforts are successful.”
The gifts will create a scholars program named in each hospital’s honor. The programs will provide tuition assistance to 10 senior bachelor of science nursing students annually and establish a paid summer internship program for an additional 10-15 students annually.
“Our longstanding partnerships with AdventHealth and Orlando Health have a wide-reaching impact on the community, from supporting a quality education of our students who join the workforce and provide compassionate, skilled care to funding faculty research and innovation to improve outcomes,” UCF College of Nursing Dean Mary Lou Sole said.
“We are extremely thankful to these leading health systems for their commitment to UCF and their generous gifts to fuel the future. Together, we will continue to make our Central Florida communities healthier.”
UCF currently graduates more newly licensed RNs annually than any other state college or university, with approximately 260 nurses entering the workforce each year. Almost all of them — 85% of the 16,000 nursing alumni — live and work in Florida.
Last year, the College of Nursing exceeded its usual enrollment by 100 to help keep pace with the state’s demand for new nurses. The new building is needed for the additional enrollment growth. When complete, the 90,000-square-foot building will be large enough for the college to increase enrollment by at least 50%.
UCF continues to seek philanthropic investments for the new building to reach its $70 million goal needed to break ground. The school has so far raised $26.2 million through philanthropy and $43.7 from the state.
Other donors include Dr. Phillips Charities, Helene Fuld Health Trust, Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation, Parrish Medical Center and VNA Foundation in support of the transformational project.
UCF’s new Pegasus Partners program offers opportunities for select partners to engage across the university in ways that create meaningful value for both organizations, including talent development and recruitment; shared research projects; joint ventures and collaborations; and strategic philanthropy.
