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UTC breaks ground for new nursing school

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Members of the Kennedy Family, from left, Elizabeth Kennedy Spratlin, Jim Kennedy III and Molly Kennedy, share a moment, after Mr. Kennedy spoke at the event. The future home of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's School of Nursing, the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building, broke ground on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Members of the Kennedy Family, from left, Elizabeth Kennedy Spratlin, Jim Kennedy III and Molly Kennedy, share a moment, after Mr. Kennedy spoke at the event. The future home of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's School of Nursing, the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building, broke ground on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Members of the Kennedy Family, from left, Elizabeth Kennedy Spratlin, Jim Kennedy III and Molly Kennedy, share a moment, after Mr. Kennedy spoke at the event. The future home of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's School of Nursing, the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building, broke ground on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024.

The future home of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s School of Nursing, the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building, broke ground Monday at the corner of Palmetto and East Third streets.

According to a UTC news release, the building will be approximately 90,000 square feet with classrooms and a simulation lab. The facility will also allow for a 152% enrollment increase in the school of nursing. 

In October 2023, UTC received an $8 million gift from the Kennedy Foundation Inc. to name the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building after the parents of the current Kennedy Foundation trustees — Jim Kennedy III, Elizabeth Kennedy Spratlin and Molly Kennedy.