The University of Texas at Arlington broke ground on a new school of social work last month. The $76 million, 150,000-square-foot facility will unite the School of Social Work and College of Nursing and Health Innovation’s (CONHI) Smart Hospital.
The new building will allow collaboration between future social workers and nurses with flexible, state-of-the-art learning spaces, teaching and research labs, a simulation learning center, study and support areas, and faculty and staff office.
“We are incredibly excited to create this new home for UTA’s social work, and nursing students, faculty and staff,” “Collaborative work within this building will set the stage for the future of health care and social work. Research shows that when professionals in social work and nursing collaborate, patients have better outcomes,” said Teik Lim, UTA’s interim president via release.
The new building will create a health sciences hub on the UTA campus, as it will be adjacent to the Science & Engineering Innovation & Research (SEIR) building, life science building, and Pickard Hall, home to CONHI.
“Being able to bring everyone together under one roof will allow for more open collaboration between social workers, health care professionals, community organizations, and clinical practice,” said Scott Ryan, dean of the School of Social Work via release. “I think this opportunity will allow us to have more vibrant interactions with our students and will propel us forward in doing innovative social work for the community and continuing being a top program in the nation.”
UTA’s School of Social Work’ master of social work program has specialties in mental health and substance abuse, aging, community and administrative practice, and more. More baccalaureate-educated nurses graduate from UTA than any other school in the state. UTA is the largest not-for-profit college of nursing, with 17,000 on-line and in-person students. It was named a 2020 Center of Excellence by the National League for Nursing.
“This new building will greatly benefit our nursing students and other clinical students by providing them access to greater clinical simulation experiences as a part of their clinical education,” said Elizabeth Merwin, CONHI dean via release. “Those students will become the health care workforce for the future, and they will graduate from UTA knowing they received the finest education to address patient needs.”
The building is set to be complete in November 2022.
