Started as one of the national land-grant colleges, Mississippi State University has a long, recognized history in the fields of agriculture, engineering, architecture and veterinary medicine. Now, the university’s healthcare portfolio is starting to grow, and MSU-Meridian’s Riley Campus is at the epicenter of that expansion.
“In the state of Mississippi, we need more healthcare professionals, we need more trained nurses,” said MSU President Mark E. Keenum, “and I am thrilled that we’re helping to identify what a need is, and Mississippi State University, our Meridian campus, is going to help provide the solution to meeting healthcare needs for our state.”
Keenum was on the MSU-Meridian Riley Campus on Wednesday to tour the renovations ongoing to the I.A. Rosenbaum Health Sciences Building. The Riley Campus is located along a block of historic buildings on Fifth Street in downtown Meridian with the Rosenbaum facility housed in the historic Kress and Co. Store.
“We are excited to be here in beautiful downtown Meridian … to see this Rosenbaum building that is going through this remarkable transformation to make available our new healthcare programs we are bringing to Meridian,” Keenum said.
He said renovations to the Rosenbaum building will help make it a model in the state for preparing students to address critical, rural health care needs in Mississippi.
The Rosenbaum building was originally remodeled when MSU moved into the block, but is now undergoing new renovations to meet the evolving campus mission. When completed, the building will house one of the most advanced interprofessional simulation centers in the state and will provide an integrated learning environment for students to team train and work together to better serve patients in the state.
“While we’re in phase one of the renovation, once completed, this wonderful facility will help us in taking care of a critical need in the east Mississippi region of the state to address health disparity, access to quality health care and improvement in livelihoods,” said Terry Dale Cruse, associate vice president and head of campus for MSU-Meridian.
The $6 million renovation project will include the simulation center, which will encompass the entire third floor, as well as the addition of a nursing skills lab on the first floor and relocating the PA skills lab to the second floor. Also planned are the addition of a team-based learning classroom, student lounge and break area, and new faculty and staff offices.
The project is being funded by a $4 million grant from the Meridian-based Riley Foundation and more than $1 million in funds from AccelerateMS’s Nursing and Allied Health Grant Program.
“We could not be doing any of this, we could not be doing our physician assistant program, our health administration program, and certainly not our nursing program, without the generosity and support from The Riley Foundation,” Keenum said. “The Riley Foundation has been our partner … They have been so generous to this university.”
The Riley Campus is home to MSU-Meridian’s Master of Physician Assistant Studies program, graduating its first cohort of students back in the spring. The second and third cohorts are well involved in their programs, and a fourth cohort of PA students should begin the program in January.
Earlier this year, the state college board approved a Master of Science in Nursing entry licensure program for the campus with the first students expected to begin classes in fall 2024. The campus introduced a Doctor of Psychology in Combined Health Service Psychology program this fall, the first doctoral program to be offered by MSU-Meridian, with concentrations in clinical, counseling and school psychology.
While the Riley Campus will soon have a number of health-related programs operating in the building, there is always room to grow, Cruse said.
“There are additional programs that we have our eye on down the road that we may like to invest in, and we know that that will require some growth and some additional infrastructure, but I certainly think there is some potential here long term,” Cruse said.
“The biggest thing when you are working with healthcare programs is community support and clinical opportunities, and Mississippi State has an abundance of that in Meridian,” he said.
While in Meridian on Wednesday, Keenum also stopped by Lamar School to meet with juniors and seniors to discuss the importance of higher education. Following his tour of the Rosenbaum building, he met with faculty and staff from MSU-Meridian and the Riley Center Campus to talk about all of the changes underway and the important role the Queen City locations will play in the university’s future.