Governor Henry McMaster joined Greenville Technical College leaders, elected leaders, and community members in breaking ground for the newest building on the college’s Barton Campus, a transformative facility where students will pursue careers in healthcare and complete general education requirements.
The facility has been named the Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences thanks to a $1.5 million gift from the state’s largest healthcare organization and the number one employer of Greenville Technical College graduates. Prisma Health has partnered with the college for decades to create well-qualified professionals to enter the healthcare field and provide the highest quality patient care once they complete programs in nursing and the allied health fields. The gift announced today funds an effort aimed at training students for high impact healthcare careers that continue to evolve and grow.
The coming three-story, 125,000 square foot building will serve as a hub at the heart of campus, impacting 90 percent of Greenville Technical College students, welcoming 150,000 visitors annually, and serving all of the 500-600 health science graduates that the college contributes to the local workforce each year.
“Welcoming the future of healthcare education to our campus by joining with an organization that has partnered with us from our earliest days is a fitting way to celebrate our sixtieth year,” said Dr. Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College. “We are grateful to Prisma Health for their longstanding support and the impact that support continues to have on nursing and allied health professionals.”
The building design will feature glass cutouts that allow for a look at science in action. There will be suites for medical imaging, ultrasound, radiological technology, and more. An Anatomage Lab will feature virtual dissection tables with fully interactive, life-size touch screens. Non-classroom spaces including conversation rooms, study carrels, and outside seating will encourage students to stay and connect long after classes.
This flexible and dynamic learning environment will support rapidly changing workforce needs, promote deeper engagement between faculty, staff, students, and the community, and support varying modes of learning and delivery of instruction. Learning will be made visible and accessible, inviting students to join with faculty in connecting and collaborating.
Once the Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences is open, campus renewal will gain momentum. Two of the college’s oldest buildings on the Barton Campus – the Engineering Technologies and University Transfer facilities – will be renovated. The Engineering Technologies building was the college’s original building, constructed in the early 1960s and added onto several times over the years. The University Transfer building opened in 1972.
Following these renovations, new labs and other updates will take place at the Nursing building, added to campus in 1994. Classrooms will be added at the Simulation Technologies and Training Center, created in 2009, and the Student Commons, built in 1979 and renovated in 2010, will gain some student life space. These improvements will change the student experience at GTC, better allowing the college to fulfill its mission of transforming lives through education with learning spaces geared to the future rather than a reflection of the college’s history.
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