A new state-of-the-art nursing wing at Ohio University Zanesville (OUZ) was recently unveiled during a ribbon cutting ceremony held on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. The new addition, named the J.W. and M.H. Straker Charitable Foundation Nursing Wing, was made possible by a $1.5 million donation from the Straker Foundation.
The renovation to the nursing wing at the university was of monumental importance. Advanced practice labs, cutting-edge simulation spaces, and areas dedicated to faculty research and student collaboration have all been implemented in the new wing, which has been expanded to nearly 11,000 square feet. The improvements were necessary due to the need for highly skilled nurses in the region. The area has been undergoing a healthcare shortage, as designated by the Health Research and Services Administration’s Rural Health Information Hub.
During the ceremony, guests were invited to tour the new facilities following the ribbon cutting and a few words from OUZ leadership and Susan Holdren, President and Executive Director of the J.W. & M.H. Straker Charitable Foundation.
“We have had nursing programs on this campus since 1970,” said OUZ Dean Hannah Nissen. “We have always been dedicated to our nursing programs and to assuring that we are able to provide the best prepared nursing professionals that we can to this area, and that is what this is largely about. It’s about making sure that we have the equipment and the spaces that will support today’s nursing professional needs, and we have been able to do all this due to a sizeable gift from the Straker Foundation, and we are so thankful for that.”
“When our foundation makes a large grant, and this was a very large grant, I like to think about what my parents would have thought,” said Susan Holdren. “This grant was so big that our board also had to weigh in, so they came last spring and toured the site, and then they agreed that this was a project worth funding. Of course, we all use healthcare. I personally use healthcare on a regular basis, and the nurses are the people that I interact with the most. And when they come at you with that IV, it’s always good to know that they have had some training. — It is very important that we have the continuity of care in Zanesville, I think. — As we all know, nurses are the frontline people and that is who we see when we need healthcare so it is very important. — Another thing that we always think about when we are making a large grant is that one of our tenants is brick and mortar, so this is a brick and mortar project, and that is something that my father definitely believed in, which is kind of unusual for a family foundation but he was very adamant that he wanted to improve the infrastructure of our county so that was another aspect that we think about. And then the third is education, I am an educator. I had a thirty-year educational career, and so education is high on my list. So this ticks all of those boxes, and we’re just so happy that we could help to make it happen.”
For information about Ohio University Zanesville’s nursing programs, visit ohio.edu/zanesville/nursing.
