The UTM Parsons Center continues to grow and will be taking another step in their development next fall.
Last July, it was announced that the center would undergo a 2.25 million dollar expansion to add the West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation Nursing Wing to the school to make room for the new Traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
The 10,000-square-foot expansion is expected to give the campus six more classrooms, a skills lab, a simulation lab and a lecture hall.
Currently, the Nursing program only offers the License Practical Nurse degree, but the new program is slated to be offered in the fall of 2014.
This will be the sixth Bachelor’s degree offered to students at the Parsons Center.
The campus currently offers degree in Criminal Justice, Social Work, K-6 Education and Interdisciplinary Studies, as well as the LPN-BSN degree.
The Parsons Center, which opened in 2007, continues to grow under its director, Dr. Kelli Beth Deere. However, the growth hasn’t been purely academic.
“My main focus, was to have more student involvement and make it different from a community college in the fact that you take classes and go home,” said Deere.
Recently, the Center has participated in several parades, teamed up with the main UTM campus for Relay for Life and had an intramural basketball tournament. If the students had it their way, they would have another some time soon.
“A student asked me the other day, ‘We’re the reigning student basketball champions. Is someone going to try to compete against us?’ and I said, ‘You know what? We need to do that again,’” said Deere.
Deere says that the Parsons Center has developed a strong relationship with the community, a community that has been very cooperative with the campus.
With no place to work out on campus, a local gym offers students the opportunity to work out for free by showing their Skyhawk cards.
The improvements to the facilities and the increased amount of student activities led by Deere has showed a increase in the amount of students enrolled.
Last fall, the Parsons Center was home to 194 total students, 41 of which were from Parsons, but Deere says that number has been steadily increasing.
“We have grown 32 percent since [fall 2013],” said Deere. “And [last] summer we grew 25 percent from [the previous] summer.”
For more information on the Parsons Center, visit www.utm.edu/departments/parsons or follow them on Twitter, @UTM_Parsons.
