A $2 million grant from the Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk Foundation will result in a new facility at Monroe Community College to educate nurses for our community. The public announcement will be made at 10 am today, Dec. 21, in the Nursing Learning Resource Center (9-141).
The Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk Center for Excellence in Nursing—a 20,000 square foot educational complex—is slated to open on the college’s Brighton Campus during the fall 2008 semester. The center is made possible by a $2 million commitment from the Wolk Foundation over five years to the Monroe Community College Foundation. The center will provide nursing students and faculty with computerized laboratories designed to simulate health care working environments and patient responses.
The Wolk Foundation recognized the critical need Monroe Community College fulfills by being the largest producer of nursing talent for Greater Rochester,” said MCC President R. Thomas Flynn. “Its generous grant will enable MCC to remain responsive to the nursing shortage and sustain high levels of teaching innovation and graduation rates.
“It is a gift from a private foundation to a public institution that will enhance the educational experience at Monroe,” said Flynn. “Nurses educated at the Wolk Center will be motivated and well prepared to serve our community for generations to come,” said Flynn.
The Rochester-based Wolk Foundation was founded by Louis S. Wolk in the mid-1980s to support local education and health care initiatives. This most recent grant is the largest ever given by the foundation to a public institution. It is also the largest gift ever made to the MCC Foundation.
“We have the pleasure of directing our funding to this most exciting and promising project,” sai Dr. Alvin Ureles, chair of the Wolk Foundation. “The Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk Center for Excellence in Nursing is a structure that will add much deserved and well earned new space and facilities to this important educational program.”
The Wolk Center will include a patient simulator/tutorial laboratory; computerized laboratories (nursing fundamentals, medical, surgical, psychiatric/mental health and maternity), classrooms, faculty offices and a nursing learning resource center. The facility will be built on the southwest side of campus, facing East Henrietta Road, and will comprise two floors. The project will enable the college to expand and modernize facilities and renovate vacated space for additional classrooms.
“Private philanthropy often is a determining factor between a good college and a great one,” said Brenda Babitz, president, MCC Foundation. “Today is the day the Wolk Foundation’s philanthropy has touched the students and faculty of Monroe Community College—further securing the foundation’s legacy and partnership with one of the most successful public higher education institutions and nursing programs in our nation,” she said.
Since its Department of Nursing was established in 1961, Monroe Community College has been the primary educator of nursing professionals in Greater Rochester. Approximately 130 students graduate from the program each year. MCC’s nursing program continues to expand capacity and enhance the educational experiences of nursing students due to generous gifts from alumni, businesses, health care institutions, friends and private foundations.
Rosanna Condello
College and Community Relations
12/21/2005 |