Celebrating the future of nursing at Rowan University

With light snow covering the nascent construction site next door, officials from Rowan University, Virtua Health, and state and local government gathered in the Samuel H. Jones Innovation Center on West Campus to celebrate the beginning stages of building the new home of the Rowan-Virtua Rita & Larry Salva School of Nursing & Health Professions (Rowan-Virtua SNHP).

The celebratory event recognized not only the start of construction, but also the generosity of the Salva family, Rowan’s ongoing partnership with Virtua Health and the University’s growing influence on health care in New Jersey and beyond.

Next door to the festivities, heavy construction machinery was moving earth for what will be a 42,200-square-foot facility. When complete, it will be home to Rowan-Virtua SNHP’s newly launched four-year nursing program which has enrolled 120 students in its first year of existence. This building and the new program it will house are vital parts of the continued partnership with Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes School of Nursing to provide RN-to-BSN programming, enabling registered nurses to earn their bachelor’s degrees.

Dire shortage looming
“There is a staffing shortage of nurses,” former NJ Senate President and longtime Rowan University supporter Steve Sweeney said. “What a difference that you're making in an area that is critically important. It doesn't happen without people with vision and people that are willing to support that vision.”

Sweeney and subsequent speakers noted the importance of Virtua Health’s partnership and of Rita and Larry Salva’s generosity in making the construction of a new nursing facility possible.

“We all know that in health care, the need for well-trained nurses is substantial,” said President Houshmand. “We are so fortunate that we have two amazing partnerships that will help us meet that need. One is with Virtua Health and the other is with the Salvas, who have been so generous in providing the gift for this wonderful new addition to the university.”

Speakers noted that the state will be short 25,450 nurses by 2036. As a nursing-specific facility, the new structure will be a training ground that helps meet the needs of New Jersey’s population as part of a larger partnership with Virtua Health.

Building on historic partnership
Formed in 2021, Virtua Health College of Medicine & Life Sciences was founded as a historic academic partnership between Rowan and Virtua Health, South Jersey’s largest health system. Meeting the state’s needs for nurses, physicians and allied health professionals is a cornerstone goal of the partnership which includes Rowan-Virtua SNHP, Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine and Rowan-Virtua School of Translational Biomedical Engineering & Sciences.

“By training highly skilled and compassionate nurses and allied health professionals, we are addressing a critical health care need and improving the quality of life for countless individuals,” said Virtua CEO Dennis Pullin. “We can all agree that nurses are truly the heart of health care, providing compassion, support, and expertise to patients in hospitals, medical practices, clinics, and in the home. Quite simply, nurses make the world a better place.”

Seated in the crowd, several nursing students who will eventually study in the new facility were recognized by Rowan-Virtua SNHP Dean Peter Rattigan. “New Jersey is facing a staggering shortage of nurses, but we are going to chip away at that shortage in a big way,” he said. “And how are we going to do that? With students like Germayoni Tapia Gomez, Annette Coronado Pena and Mikayla Hinson who are members of the first cohort of four-year nursing students.”

The first cohort of four-year nursing students, and subsequent classes, will move into their new home on West Campus in fall 2026. They’ll arrive on a rapidly expanding campus that includes the soon-to-be complete Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine and Virtua Health College Research Center, an advanced manufacturing hub and a biomass energy facility and a holistic wellness village. There is more than $1.5 billion of Rowan-related construction projects that will come to fruition over the next decade.