Carolina breaks ground on Nursing Education Building
The structure will provide the latest technology to prepare students in the nation’s top-ranked public nursing school.
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“Get ready,” said keynote speaker William E. “Bill” Conway Jr. to the guests who packed the Blue Zone Concourse Club on Oct. 25 to celebrate the groundbreaking for the UNC School of Nursing’s new Nursing Education Building.
The planned 110,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility represents a dynamic future for nursing and nursing education at the top-ranked public nursing school in the nation. With the North Carolina General Assembly’s 2020 appropriations commitment of $87.9 million, the new building’s increased capacity will allow for current and future program expansion to address the state’s critical nursing shortage.
“North Carolina, first of all, has the need for nurses. And UNC has a track record of developing outstanding nurses,” said Conway, co-founder and co-executive chairman of the board of The Carlyle Group. Among the foremost philanthropic supporters of nurses and nursing education in the nation, Conway and his late wife, Joanne, made a $5 million commitment to the UNC School of Nursing in 2023. The Conway Scholars program more than doubled the amount of scholarship funding available for the baccalaureate program.
From left to right: Keynote speaker Bill Conway; state Sen. Amy Galey; UNC School of Nursing Dean Valerie Howard; Brandi Newman ’01, ’04 (MSN); state Sen. Gale Adcock, ’87 (MSN); and UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Chris Clemens. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)
‘More than a physical milestone’
Facing South Columbia Street, the new building will replace the outdated wing of Carrington Hall, built in 1969, and increase the school’s footprint by 20,000 square feet. The modern structure will also provide the latest technologies in simulation, teaching and learning to better prepare students for the modern healthcare environment.
“This groundbreaking is more than a physical milestone,” said School of Nursing Dean Valerie Howard. “It is a symbol of our ongoing commitment to advance health for all through accessible education and service, through translatable scholarship, through meaningful partnerships – local and global – that ensure that Carolina and nurses will meet and lead the profession through the challenges of today and those of tomorrow.”
Ricarte Jin Atienza ’25 is in the first cohort of Conway Scholars at Carolina. “Carolina and nurses are known for setting the bar high, for improving patient outcomes, advocating for changes in healthcare policy and pushing innovative healthcare practices,” Atienza said. “This new building will be a powerful catalyst in that mission.”
Rendering of the 110,000-square-foot Nursing Education Building.
Brandi Newman ’01, ’04 (MSN) acknowledged the nostalgia the old wing of Carrington Hall has for many alumni while also recognizing the limitations an aging facility has had on the school.
“We will finally have a building that will be able to hold the caliber of nursing students, faculty and staff of the nation’s top-ranked public nursing school and propel us into the future of healthcare that has shaped up to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” said Newman, vice president of administration for community and social impact at Atrium Health and a member of UNC’s Board of Visitors.
After a ceremonial “turning of the dirt,” attendees stayed for a reception and school-wide expo featuring UNC nursing students and faculty.
