SRU dedicates building
HARRISVILLE — Officials from Slippery Rock University and Harrisville gathered Thursday afternoon to dedicate the new Harrisville Building, which houses the university’s new physician assistant program.
The building was the former Har-Mer Elementary School, which was closed in June 2013 due to declining enrollment in the Slippery Rock School District.
The space now houses the university’s new 24-month master’s program in physician assistant studies, which started May 10 and is at capacity with 52 students. The building includes four exam rooms and 13 labs to simulate real-time patient care as well as an interactive mannequin that produces mock vital signs.
The university purchased the building for $300,000, according to Rita Abent, executive director of communications and public affairs.
Thanks to funding from the Slippery Rock University Foundation, that purchase was final in the summer of 2015, according to President Cheryl Norton. The single-story, 33,000-square-foot building is located on 4.8 acres about seven miles from the university’s main campus.
But the university needed to move quickly after the sale was official, Norton said.
“We were really on a fast track,” she said at the dedication ceremony. “We got the building purchased in the early summer of 2015, and we needed to have it completed in 11 months. That’s incredible speed in higher education.”
The renovations totaled $3.4 million, funding that was provided by the foundation and will be more than recouped through the program’s semester tuition — $19,650 for out-of-state students and $13,550 for in-state students, according to Amir Mohammadi, the university’s vice president for finance, administrative affairs and advancement services. That $3.4 million includes $445,000 for IT services and $240,000 for new furniture.
Harrisville’s Mayor, Gary Hughes, also spoke at the dedication ceremony, saying that the building has brought new life to the community and helped local business.
“This new school is a major asset to the community in many ways,” Hughes said. “In these tough economic times, small businesses and small towns in America struggle to stay afloat. This new school ... it’s helping the eateries with more hungry mouths to feed. It’s helping landlords fill empty houses and apartments. Overall, it’s bringing new faces into our town. It helps us all.”
Mohammadi said that the university will bring in $18.9 million in the first five years of the new program through tuition.
“It pays for itself,” he said. “The return on investment is good.”
