Galen College of Nursing is moving ahead with plans to open its first North Texas nursing school campus by summer in Richardson after gaining unanimous approval by the City Plan Commission at a March 7 meeting.
The school, which will be run by Medical City Healthcare, will now need to be approved by the Richardson City Council during its March 27 meeting in order to begin construction. Galen Vice President of Operations Kathleen Dwyer said the college is still expected to be open in late summer.
“We were looking at the shortage we saw in this community alone and knew we needed to be here,” she said. “There will be a shortage of over 13,000 registered nurses in the North and Central Texas area by 2025.”
The Richardson campus, which is expected to be Galen’s fourth college in Texas, is projected to have a maximum enrollment of 1,000 students. However, because students are expected to be off-site at clinical rotations and taking online courses, a maximum of 300 students are expected at campus at one time, according to Dwyer. The new 41,000-square-foot campus, which will be located at 1301 W. President George Bush Highway, will feature advanced patient simulation labs and classroom environments to encourage hands-on, practice-based learning.