College breaks ground on $37.4M Allied Health facility
Lamar State College Port Arthur celebrated a groundbreaking on Monday, November 6, for the $37.4 million Allied Health and Science Building. Pictured, from left, are LSCPA Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations Mary Wickland, Dean of Academic and Technical Programs Dr. Melissa Armentor, Stantec Principal Steve Parker, LSCPA President Dr. Betty Reynard, Bartlett Cocke General Contractors Project Manager James Pallone, LSCPA Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Pamela Millsap, Director of Allied Health Shirley MacNeill, and Hill International Project Manager Marcus Swayzer.
Lamar State College Port Arthur took another step toward the future with a groundbreaking for the Allied Health and Sciences Building, a $37.4 million project.
The groundbreaking took place adjacent to the current Allied Health facility which provides just over 7,700 square feet to serve Nurse Aide, Vocational Nursing, LVN to RN Upward Mobility, Surgical Technology, and Drug and Alcohol Counseling programs.
LSCPA received the Tuition Revenue Bond after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 52 in October 2022. That money funded the construction of the new facility which is being built along Procter Street near the center of campus, adjacent to the existing Allied Health facilities.
Shirley MacNeill, chair of the Allied Health Department, said there has long been a need for more space as the various programs have grown over the years. “This will provide us the opportunity to grow our program, as well as providing state-of-the-art experiences to help supplement our clinicals for students,” MacNeill said.
The building will contain modern instructional skills labs and simulation spaces for the Allied Health department, a suite of state-of-the-art science labs, nursing simulation labs, and classroom spaces. The building will house all sciences, nursing programs, and the Surgical Technology program.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Dean of Academic and Technical Programs Dr. Melissa Armentor outlined the planned construction which will increase the Allied Health learning space to more than 22,000 square feet, more than quadrupling available space.
She explained that the simulation labs will cover more than 8,000 square feet. The first floor of the building provide space for 22 faculty in nursing and the sciences along with an office suite for the department chair and administrative support staff. There are 32 lab spaces for anatomy and physiology, chemistry and physical science and biology and microbiology. Dr. Armentor said there is a lot more room to teach students in the labs, and there will be a 72-seat general classroom.
The top floor has gathering spaces, in addition to classrooms, computer lab for testing and the highlight, Dr. Armentor said, is a simulation suite containing three adult care beds, an intensive care unit bed, an obstetrics pediatric room surrounding a nurse station with medication room.
Estimated completion date for the project is March 2025.
