State and local officials helped break ground at Finger Lakes Community College Tuesday for a $7.2 million project to expand and renovate the nursing school at that Canandaigua campus.
The expansion will increase enrollment in FLCC’s registered nursing program by 60% and it will also allow that college to add a licensed practical nursing program.
SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras was at the groundbreaking and said that there is a desperate need for more healthcare professionals in the state, something that became really clear during the COVID-19 crisis.
"One thing we’ve learned from this recent experience from the pandemic, we rely on these healthcare heroes for so much. We don’t want to be in a situation where you don’t have the workforce ready to go when the next emergency comes or just everyday quality of life care,” Malatras said.
The expansion at FLCC was accomplished with the help of a $3 million contribution from The Sands Family Foundation. That represents the largest single gift FLCC has received since it was founded in the late 1960s.
Malatras praised the joint community effort in accomplishing the nursing expansion project.
“If you take that model, you could replicate that model all across the state, with giving students state of the art research activities and training with high tech equipment in the space to learn. It really is impressive how the community came together,” Malatras said.
The first phase of the project is scheduled for completion before classes begin on August 30. That is a renovation project of existing space. New construction, which includes a new wing, is set to open in phases during the 2021-22 academic year.
