Study rooms, lecture halls, clinical labs. Here’s what’s in CPI’s $15 million expansion project

Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology will start construction on a new health sciences building in spring 2023 that aims to dramatically enhance the offerings at the career and technical school.

The 32,500-square-foot building next to its existing campus on South Harrison Road in Pleasant Gap will include three levels of housing study rooms, lecture halls and clinical labs. Labs include a mock doctor’s office, a nursing skills lab, a surgical tech room, a scrub room, a patient recovery room, an occupational therapy room and more.

The building’s total estimated cost is $15 million with a targeted completion date in early 2025. Once completed, CPI estimates having around 370 students enrolled in the building’s programs, allowing the school to serve more students.

CPI will receive more than $3 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to build the second floor of the building. The funds are part of the American Rescue Plan, a federal economic stimulus package that passed in March 2021.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., toured the institute and the site of the new building on Thursday, stopping to talk with students and faculty. Casey spoke in support of the American Rescue Plan and its impact on those in the Centre County area.

“These investments are not just needed, but essential investments if we’re going to have the health care workforce of the future,” Casey said. “These are investments that the people of this community deserve.”

CPI president Richard Makin said the building is designed to look like more traditional modern universities, with open spaces for students to study and congregate. The building also includes a large outdoor patio accessible to students and faculty.

The building will cater mostly to post-secondary students and offer degrees including nursing, surgical technology, assistant occupational therapy and health care management.

Both Makin and Casey expressed hope that the addition would help provide more health care workers to combat shortages.

“Everything from nurses to nurse aides and everyone in between are badly needed jobs in Pennsylvania,” Casey said. “I think our state is no different than other states around the country. But we have a real workforce crisis. We need these highly skilled health care jobs of the future.”