Gov. Hochul Announces $8 Million for SUNY Canton Nursing Simulation Center

The new investment will allow the college to expand and upgrade its nursing programs to meet North Country regional needs.

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that SUNY Canton will receive funding to establish a SUNY Regional Nursing Simulation Center.

“By investing in nurses of the future, we’re investing in the talent of aspiring professionals across our state and in the health care workforce we all rely on,” Governor Hochul said. “The SUNY nursing simulation centers will make extraordinary strides toward preparing students and strengthening the pipeline of excellence in our SUNY system and beyond.”

The college was awarded an $8 million SUNY Nursing Simulation Capital Investment Grant to expand its programs with equipment, qualified staff, and physical space to offer quality simulation experiences to its students. SUNY Canton plans to expand on its signature Nursing programs while continuing to provide high-quality, hands-on training and expanding offerings to address some of the most needed clinical practice areas in healthcare, such as labor and delivery, high acuity cases and community health.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr., said, “SUNY is committed to strengthening New York’s healthcare workforce, and today’s groundbreaking investment in nursing simulation is a testament to this commitment, and a reminder of the key role public higher education plays in health outcomes and workforce development. Following enactment of Governor Hochul’s 2023 law championed by Senators Stavisky and Fahy and Assemblymember Lupardo to establish nursing simulation, SUNY is at the forefront of simulation-based nursing education – transforming how we prepare our students to address the healthcare workforce shortage and evolving healthcare needs of New Yorkers.”

SUNY Canton President Zvi Szafran said, “This major and transformative investment further establishes SUNY Canton as the North Country’s Regional Nursing Simulation Center. It also will allow us to more than double access to our quality programs at all levels, allowing us to help fill the local and state-wide need for highly qualified nurses. The new simulation center will augment our hands-on learning opportunities and further strengthen SUNY Canton’s commitment to offering affordable, accessible and applied experiences within the School of Science, Health and Criminal Justice.”

For the last 20 years, the college has integrated simulation training into its nursing curriculum with the use of computer-controlled life-like animatronic patient mannikins. In addition to a new simulation hospital, the funding will help create a new task training and resource room, new anatomy and physiology laboratories, a virtual reality room, and integrated classroom and computer spaces in Wicks Hall, according to School of Science,Health and Criminal Justice Dean Michele A. Snyder, who served as the Principal Investigator on the grant.

“Simulations are used to enhance and supplement existing laboratory exercises,” Snyder said. “We embrace this opportunity to advance the healthcare workforce that serves our rural region and broaden the impact of healthcare in the North Country. It’s a great project, and I’m happy to see it come to fruition.”

At SUNY Canton, the center will support significant growth across all levels of undergraduate nursing programs, including a 133% increase in the one-year Practical Nursing program, a 160% increase in the two-year Registered Nurse associate degree program, and a 192% increase in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program within five years post-project completion.

“This new Regional Nursing Simulation Center represents a game-changer for SUNY Canton and the North Country,” said Assemblymember Scott A. Gray. “We will not only see substantial growth across our nursing programs, but more importantly, we will be able to provide our students with critical training that limited clinical placement opportunities have hindered in the past, especially in high-demand specialties like obstetrics, labor, and delivery, and pediatric care. This will ultimately lead to better healthcare outcomes for our communities.”

The announcement came as part of a $62 million investment with campus matches to establish three centers across SUNY to directly support prelicensure nursing program enrollment increases and advance the governor’s goal of growing New York’s healthcare workforce by 20%. University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University also received portions of the funding.