Alvernia has announced its nursing programs will now be housed in the John and Karen Arnold School of Nursing during a celebration with university leaders, trustees, faculty, staff and nursing students on Tuesday afternoon.
The naming recognizes the university’s largest philanthropic gift by a trustee in its 63-year history from business leaders and philanthropists John and Karen Arnold. The gift will support the expansion of the university’s nursing program, a key component to the second phase of the renovation of the newly named John R. Post Center at Reading CollegeTowne.
“I would like to acknowledge the incredible generosity of the Arnold family, whose leadership in addressing the needs of our community and support of our vision for the City of Reading, Berks County and beyond will benefit generations of future students and residents,” said Alvernia University President John R. Loyack.
“We are ecstatic to begin the second phase of renovation to the John R. Post Center to meet the demands for qualified healthcare professionals in our region and continue to ignite economic redevelopment in downtown Reading.”
The project will address the need for RNs in the local healthcare industry by relocating, expanding, and modernizing Alvernia’s John and Karen Arnold School of Nursing.
The project will add over 25,000 sq. ft of classroom and lab space, including a new Healthcare Simulation Center. The state-of-the-art simulation facilities will enhance Alvernia’s accredited professional undergraduate and graduate nursing degree programs.
“Karen and I are excited to support Alvernia University’s Reading CollegeTowne Initiative and the expansion of the School of Nursing,” said Arnold. “Reading CollegeTowne is having a transformational impact on the City of Reading, and the expansion of the School of Nursing, and the new facility in Reading CollegeTowne, will assist in meeting workforce development needs of the local healthcare organizations in our community now and well into the future.”
Relocating the nursing programs to the new John R. Post Center at Reading CollegeTowne, Alvernia will expand the nursing program capacity and allow for the graduation of additional new RNs entering the region in various healthcare settings.
“This donation to Alvernia University’s CollegeTowne initiative, making possible the establishment of the John & Karen Arnold School of Nursing, will provide much more than just the means to renovate and create a state-of-the-art nursing education facility,” said Jamie Albert, junior nursing student.
“Such a gift provides us with the inspiration to elevate our learning not just in this building but in all those community-based locations where we students do our clinical rotations.”
