In a written statement Thursday, Collin College President Neil Matkin thanked the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration for the grant, adding that Plano’s expansion is “just the beginning.”“We currently serve more than 3,000 future health professionals each year, and our hospital partners rely on our graduates,” Matkin wrote. “We cannot produce enough without these types of investments.
“Partner feedback was consistent across the board, emphasizing nursing and other frontline healthcare professions in high demand,” he added. The new labs at the Plano campus will be used for instruction and training licensed vocational nurses, certified nurse’s aides, patient care technicians, electrocardiograph technicians and phlebotomy technicians, according to Corwin’s statement.Mark Smith, provost of Collin College McKinney Campus, said the renovations will allow the college to expand programs that will help close gaps and staffing challenges in North Texas’ health care industry.
Most of the administrative staff for the college’s health sciences programs are based out of the McKinney Campus. “We had already been exploring renovations at our Plano Campus and wanted to include some additional health science programs at that location,” Smith said. “This grant opportunity came up and it fit perfectly into what we were trying to do.”, Breaking News reporter. Hojun Choi covers breaking news. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining the Dallas Morning News, he was a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman.