USC and Lexington Medical Center (LMC) broke ground on the new 52,000-sqft College of Nursing in West Columbia on Thursday. The project is expected to open for the first group of nursing students in fall 2024.
The public-private partnership includes LMC providing clinical instructors and building the new facility while the university will fund equipment, a simulation center, equipment + furnishings for classrooms.
USC’s College of Nursing graduates about 220 nurses from the Cola campus annually, but that number will increase to 400 nurses per year with the new location. The university and hospital also partner on a graduate medical education program to train primary care physicians. The first GME program will accept 13 residents per year beginning this summer.