Lt. Gov. Tina Smith
“We can’t wait. The demand is too great.” – Dean Monica Devers
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith hosted a panel Thursday in Eastman Hall in front of an audience of about 60 supporters of the buildings proposed renovation.
Their message was clear: The world, students and employers are not going to wait. If legislators don’t approve the bonding proposal for this project now, one of the state’s largest educators could be left behind and it will have an impact on all of Minnesota.
Panel members
- Lt. Gov. Tina Smith
- Commissioner Larry Pogemiller – Minnesota Office of Higher Education
- Commissioner Ed Ehlinger – Minnesota Department of Health
- Monica Devers – School of Health and Human Services, dean
- Corie Beckermann – Student Health Services, director
- John Eggers – Counseling and Psychological Services, director
- Shahzad Ahmad – International Studies, interim associate vice president
- David Hartford – CentraCare, Behavioral Health Services, Care Center director
- Emmanuel Oppong – City of St. Cloud, community engagement coordinator
- Patti Gartland – Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation, president
- Saido Gure – SCSU, Community Psychology student
- Val Peña – SCSU, Recovery Community student
“People around the state and around the country really are understanding that this is what needs to done to be on the cutting edge of education and health care,” Lt. Gov. Smith said. “We just need to do it. ”
Gov. Mark Dayton included $12.3 million for renovating Eastman Hall in his January bonding proposal to the legislature.
The Eastman Hall renovation will transform St. Cloud State’s fourth-oldest building into a diverse but interconnected set of health and human service related programs and services. It will co-locate Student Health Services, Counseling and Psychological Services, U-Choose and the Recovery Community, which will integrate with programs in the School of Health and Human Services under the same roof to provide thousands of students with interdisciplinary experiential learning in and out of the classroom.
The panel in Eastman included students, School of Health and Human Services Dean Monica Devers and Student Health Services Director Corie Beckerman as well as community representatives from CentraCare, the City of St. Cloud and the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation.
“Health services has been undersized and aging for way too long,” said John Eggers, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at St. Cloud State. “Additionally, we are working with more and more students. We have seen a 70 percent increase in students with mental health needs in the last 10 years and we need to be able to work closely with our colleagues in Student Health Services to make sure those students are successful.”
Being in Eastman Hall will allow Counseling and Psychological Services to work more collaboratively with Student Health Services and have a much warmer hand off of the students they serve together, Eggers said.
At an academic level, the facility will help St. Cloud State develop collaborative interdisciplinary programs to support workforce demands in health and human services.
“We have an obligation at this institution to prepare our students for the demand,” said Monica Devers, dean of the School of Health and Human Services. “Ninety-percent of our nurses tend to stay in Central Minnesota so we know that when we prepare them, they’re going to stay here with CentraCare and all of our other community partners who benefit from their expertise.
“We can’t wait. The demand is too great.”
