DENTON, Aug. 15, 2024 – Texas Woman’s University (TWU) celebrated a key milestone in the construction of its new health sciences center, which is set to enhance academic programming and expand health-related services for the North Texas community. University officials, along with representatives from AECOM Hunt construction and SmithGroup architects, participated in a topping-off ceremony, marking the placement of the final beam in the building’s structure.
During the ceremony, attendees, including university leaders and construction team members, signed the final beam before it is set into place in the coming weeks. This tradition symbolizes the completion of the building’s framework and moves the project closer to its anticipated opening in fall 2025.
“We are thrilled at the prospect of expanding health-related activities to better serve our students and the community,” said Angela Bauer, Ph.D., TWU’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “The new health sciences center will be a beacon of health education for the academic community and a lifeline for rural North Texans who need greater access to health care.”
The $107 million, 136,000-square-foot facility broke ground in September 2023 and is designed as an inter-professional education center, aiming to link students in allied health fields with a particular focus on preparing them to serve in rural settings. The center will feature state-of-the-art labs, classrooms, collaborative workspaces, outdoor clinic sites, and a teaching kitchen. It will also house community health care clinics and student training spaces, broadening TWU’s outreach and research activities.
Clint Binkley, AECOM’s vice president and Higher Education Sector Lead for the South Region, expressed pride in the progress made so far. “This is a milestone for this project, and we proudly look toward the impact the health science center will have — creating opportunity and opening pathways to new careers, and growing access to health services in some of our most underserved rural communities in need of care,” Binkley said.
The health sciences center is on track for completion by summer 2025, with doors set to open to students and the community later that fall.