UND leaders urge funding for Health Professions Facility as Columbia Hall nears vacancy; committee hears study and funding testimony

The University of North Dakota’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences told the House Education Committee that a proposed Health Professions Facility is needed to replace aging space and expand simulation, research and interdisciplinary training across nursing, medicine and allied health programs.

Marjorie Jenkins, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for health affairs at UND, said Columbia Hall must be vacated and that deferred maintenance on Columbia Hall and the nursing building totals roughly $60 million. Jenkins said UND’s plan envisions a roughly 95,000‑square‑foot, three‑story facility that would house the College of Nursing and Professional Disciplines together with the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and would include a simulation hospital, research space, and classrooms. "I excerpted the part that I say every day, to serve North Dakota for the benefit of its people and to improve the quality of their lives," Jenkins said, citing the statutory purpose of the medical school in the North Dakota Century Code.

Jenkins…