Tarleton set to add $80 million Health Professions Building to its growing campus.

TSU Media Relations

Special to Beneath the Surface News

A new facility on Tarleton State’s Stephenville campus will position the university to fill critical career gaps in regional healthcare and set it apart as one of the nation’s top health-related training institutions.

Texas A&M System Board of Regents approved construction of the $80 million Health Professions Building (new home for the College of Health Sciences adjacent to the School of Nursing), with move-in planned for summer 2025.

“When more than 40 percent of the community hospitals in Texas are vulnerable to closure, rural healthcare matters,” said Tarleton State President James Hurley. “As a national comprehensive public university, we have a moral responsibility to enhance access to high-quality, affordable healthcare.”

The National Rural Health Association reports that more than 50 million Americans live in rural communities. The patient-physician ratio in Stephenville alone is 1,779 to 1.

Tarleton strategically realigned its College of Health Sciences two years ago to help rural residents enjoy longer, healthier and more productive lives by preparing top-shelf healthcare practitioners.

“The opportunities to extend Tarleton State’s footprint as a leader in rural healthcare are limitless,” said Dr. Ramona Parker, Executive Dean and Associate Vice President for the College of Health Sciences.

“To this end, we will graduate practice-ready professionals poised to promote wellness and address access to quality care in the communities we serve.”

At 92,000 square feet, the new Health Professions Building will include specialized laboratory space and public clinics for students to gain true-to-profession experience in three new degree programs —physical therapy, occupational therapy and physician assistant studies.

Programs in kinesiology, nutrition science, social work, public health, athletic training and communication sciences and disorders are already in place.

Together they will prepare graduates to provide interprofessional evidence-based healthcare and advance world-class health-related innovations.