A State-of-the-Art Nursing Facility on Campus

Emporia State University is constructing a brand new School of Nursing building on the ESU campus. The facility will also be home to the Student Wellness Center, ESU’s healthcare and counseling services for students. It is scheduled to open in the fall 2025 semester and will provide a broad range of advantages to students, the Kansas workforce and the university.

Annika (Miller) Koch (BS 20-Nursing) was determined not to follow in her sister’s footsteps by attending Emporia State University. That was until she made campus visits to other large universities, and they didn’t even know her name.

Coming from a small town in Kansas with a graduating class of 70, then-Miller knew that she wanted to become a nurse — a dream that began following a hospital internship in high school. But where to fulfill that dream? She wanted something bigger, but she also wanted a sense of community.

After her campus tour with ESU, it became undeniable that this was the school for her. From the Ambassador to the professors, students and staff, she could tell ESU wanted Annika Miller — not just another nursing student. And she was highly impressed by Emporia State’s higher-than-average pass rate on the NCLEX nurse licensure exam, demonstrating that ESU students were very well prepared.

Encountering new, diverse experiences and people at every turn, the large-to-her ESU campus proved overwhelming at first. But Koch dove in. Her first semester, she became an ESU Ambassador, giving other potential students the tour — and attention — she received. She was also in the SPURS honor society and bolstered her nursing education by becoming a member of the Eastern Kansas Association of Nursing (EKAN), where she helped bring in speakers, do fundraisers, assist with blood drives and go to conventions.

The biggest ESU advantage for Koch was the immersive nursing program. It was hard, she acknowledges. Really hard. But she came away career ready, in part due to the hands-on clinicals that started her very first semester, as well as the internships she completed and the professors who challenged her.

“ESU has the most wonderful faculty who really care about you — academically, professionally and personally.”

It’s what came with her education, however, that Koch actually values most about her ESU experience. “The nursing cohort model let us be with the same 25-30 people all three years,” she shared. “We became a community. We helped each other, taught each other, encouraged each other and that translated perfectly into the professional world where we now have to collaborate with others to do our jobs. It all stemmed from ESU.”

After graduating (without a ceremony) in 2020 during the peak of the COVID pandemic, Koch married her husband Barret (BA 18-Psychology, MS 19-School Psychology, EDS 20-School Psychology), and the couple has a five-month-old son, August. After leaving ESU, Koch took a job at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, MO, following an internship there during her final semester. She spent two years in the cardiac transplant unit before transitioning to the hospital’s new “Hospital in Your Home” program, which allows non-critical patients to receive care in their homes instead of being admitted. It is one of a handful of such programs in the nation.

Would Koch choose ESU again? In a heartbeat. “ESU has the most wonderful faculty who really care about you — academically, professionally and personally. The program is hard and the days are long, but the education and sense of community you get from ESU is awesome. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Are you or someone you know interested in a career in nursing? With our focus on student careers, ESU offers an incredibly affordable and smart option for higher education. ESU offers the same in-state tuition rate for every state in the continental U.S. Visit our website to request information about our degree programs.

The 30,000-square-foot building will be larger than the current School of Nursing space. As a result, it will be possible to grow the program and admit more nursing students. This will enhance opportunities for students to pursue this lucrative, high-demand career track. On average, there are 194,500 nursing job openings each year. Projections show the demand for registered nurses will grow by 9% through 2030.

The new construction is also a prudent investment. Since 1971, the School of Nursing has operated in Cora Miller Hall on the Newman Regional Health campus. Although this location has served our students well, remaining in Cora Miller Hall in the future would require purchasing the building and making significant investments in deferred maintenance. With this new construction, the investment will instead go into a state-of-theart facility. It will consolidate ESU’s infrastructure footprint, improve space utilization and reduce energy consumption and operating costs.

Bringing the program to the main campus will also put nursing students at the center of the student experience. It will make it easier for them to take part in student organizations, extracurricular activities and events, helping them get even more out of their time as students. This new facility will take Emporia State’s nursing program into an exciting new phase of growth and opportunity.

Emporia State University nursing students graduate with the experience and knowledge needed to be career ready. Graduates must pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) to become registered nurses. Graduates of Emporia State’s BSN program showed a 92% average first-time passage rate on the NCLEX over the last five years, compared to 85.6% for the state of Kansas and 86.5% nationally.

Funding for this best-in-class space is being made possible through donor support, grants and state investment. Are you interested in learning more about how you can be part of this bold next step for nursing?

Contact Amy Piersol to discuss supporting the new nursing facility or make a gift online to the Nursing & Wellness Fund and be part of the Together, Forward Campaign today.

Amy Piersol � Director of Development

620-341-6473 � apiersol@emporia.edu