How this new Denton facility will address the Texas nursing shortage
As Texas faces a critical shortage of nurses, Texas Woman’s University is preparing to address the deficit with its new Health Sciences Center, which is expected to lead to a 30% increase in health care graduates from the university over the next decade.
The university will dedicate its new Health Sciences Center in Denton on Thursday, Feb. 12, heralding a new era for the hundreds of students who will benefit from the facility.
At Texas Woman’s, roughly half of all students study a health-related field, said Noralyn Pickens, an associate dean with the university’s College of Health Sciences and the College of Nursing.
“What’s really important is that we are recruiting people from the communities that need to be served,” Pickens said.
The building opened to students in September, shortly after a three-alarm fire broke out in the building.
The $107 million facility was paid for in large part by funding approved by the Texas Legislature. The building has three classrooms and 11 teaching labs, according to a news release.
The facility allowed Texas Woman’s nursing program, which began at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, to expand to the Denton campus last year.
The Health Sciences Center includes tools that allow for AI simulations of health scenarios across the lifespan, Pickens said.
“We have the ability to create really high-end scenarios that the students are engaged in,” Pickens said.
The building also includes three clinics that serve the Denton community, including a speech and hearing clinic, a counseling and family therapy clinic, and the Institute for Women’s Health. Texas Woman’s University is in the process of developing an additional medical clinic that will be staffed by nurse practitioner faculty, Pickens said.
The design of the building emphasizes interprofessional collaboration, Pickens said, so that students are trained to work with other health care professionals both in the classroom and in the exam room.
“There’s no silos in this building,” Pickens said. “Every space is shared.”
Texas has been grappling with a nursing shortage for years. The state health department estimates that Texas will be short more than 56,000 registered nurses by 2036.
This story was originally published February 10, 2026 at 3:57 PM.
