Roane State Community College (RSCC) is East Tennessee’s regional healthcare workforce provider, offering 19 degree and certificate programs – among the largest selection at any community college in the state. It is likely that one out of three emergency responders and healthcare workers in our region have passed through the doors of Roane State’s Center for Health Sciences, with about 300 credit program graduates and nearly 5,000 continuing education students annually.
Roane State’s Cumberland County Center has reached its capacity to serve students in health sciences programs and those taking prerequisites for these programs. Currently, students in Cumberland and Fentress Counties must drive to Harriman, Oak Ridge, or Knoxville campuses for required lab classes and to complete nursing degrees. So much time on the road contributes to safety concerns, challenges securing childcare, high costs associated with gas and vehicle maintenance, and more.
Expanding lab and learning space at the Cumberland County Center will help reduce travel for health sciences students - about 150 annually from Cumberland and Fentress Counties alone - during their foundational course years. Furthermore, this expansion will offer a full nursing program that does not require travel to another campus - namely, Roane State’s first nursing cohort in Crossville. By facilitating an increase in the college’s overall nursing program capacity and equipping students with the resources and training they need to succeed at the Cumberland County Center, Roane State will also be better positioned to help meet the growing healthcare workforce needs of the region.
Roane State has already received approval from the State to expand its Cumberland County Center. The proposed expansion will
grow the Center’s health sciences space with a flexible lab and two flexible classrooms and a dedicated nursing area that includes a lab and a classroom. The nursing program at Roane State is highly competitive, and this expansion will facilitate an increase in the number of nursing students that RSCC will be able to graduate overall. While the State of Tennessee is funding $1.7 million of this $2.5 million expansion, Roane State Foundation seeks to raise $800,000 in support of the project, with about half of that goal already having been secured.
The new Cumberland County Center Expansion will:
Help us bring this vision to life.
Together we can expand what’s possible for health sciences students at Roane State Community College.
Roane State Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity or national origin, sex, disability, age, status as protected veteran or any other class protected by Federal or State laws and regulation and by Tennessee board of Regents policies with respect to employment, programs, and activities. View full non-discrimination policy.
