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ASU’s College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation began 50 years ago in the basement of Matthews Library with three faculty members and six students.

“We have come a very long way since then,” says Bernadette Melnyk, dean of the College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation.

The college celebrated its planned expansion into its second building on the Downtown Phoenix campus by breaking ground on April 1 for a five-story, 84,000 square foot facility at Third and Fillmore streets.

The new building will include a 200-seat auditorium, student facilities and faculty office and research space. Silver LEED certification will be sought from the United States Green Building Council when construction is complete in fall of 2009.

As the largest nursing college in the country with nearly 2,000 students, the College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation continues to create innovations in nursing through programs that focus on evidence-based practice to reduce medical errors, new centers such as the Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence and degrees such as the Master of Healthcare Innovation, Melnyk says.

“We are setting a new standard for colleges across the country,” she adds.

The groundbreaking was celebrated as a historic conversion of events that were brought about by the citizens of Arizona – Arizona State University was created 50 years ago by a public vote. Almost half a century later, the people of Phoenix approved the creation of the Downtown Phoenix campus by approving a $223 million bond slated to create the campus.

Crow praised nurses who are the backbone of the healthcare industry, the women and men who provide care 24 hours a day.

“Nursing is at the end of the day, the core profession in healthcare,” Crow says.

Arizona Board of Regents member Ernest Calderon lauded nurses throughout history who selflessly gave of themselves for the good of others.

He told the audience that many in power today have forgotten to care for the needy regardless of their plight or origin.

“Today we not only shovel the Earth, but we also plant the seeds of hope,” Calderon says.

Building the new nursing building will benefit the economy by creating temporary jobs for construction workers and permanent employment in the city, says Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.

“This is about economic development,” Gordon says.

Graduate student Dan Weberg, who will be in the first class to graduate in the new Master of Healthcare Innovation program, talked about the future of the college and its groundbreaking programs in areas such as the simulation program where students gain hands-on experience.

“We are truly pioneering the future,” Weberg says. “We are the ones who will change the world.”