STCC announces $1 million MassMutual Foundation gift to support health programs

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Springfield Technical Community College received a $1 million grant from the MassMutual Foundation to help with the relocation of the School of Health and Patient Simulation (SHPS), the largest philanthropic gift received by the college in the past 15 years.

The college plans to move its health programs out of Building 20, an 83-year-old structure with a history of expensive emergency repairs. Most of the programs will be relocated to Scibelli Hall, or Building 2, a seven-story structure opened in 1988 on the historic STCC campus.

The total estimated project cost to relocate is approximately $50 million with committed funding from the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance ($38 million), STCC Board of Trustees ($11.5 million) and the STCC Foundation ($500,000).

STCC President John B. Cook thanked the MassMutual Foundation at an Oct. 22 ceremony announcing the gift.

“We cannot express enough gratitude to the MassMutual Foundation for this leadership award, which continues our momentum for relocating the School of Health and Patient Simulation,” Cook said. “This gift is a remarkable investment in our regional workforce and will have a deep impact on students enrolled in essential health programs at STCC.”

The $1 million from the MassMutual Foundation will support needed investments not included in the full project budget, including relocation of the Medical Lab Technician and EMT programs and Radiology equipment to Buildings 17 and 27. The grant also will support the upgrading of virtual reality training equipment to enhance student learning experiences and will provide strengthened IT support and equipment upgrades to the STCC SIMS Medical Center.

“The MassMutual Foundation is proud to award this grant to STCC for this very important initiative,” said Dennis Duquette, President & CEO of the MassMutual Foundation. “Through this vital work, STCC not only provides hundreds of students with state of the art medical training, but the health services sector of our local economy will benefit tremendously when STCC graduates are hired; we are thrilled to help them relocate and update the School of Health and Patient Simulation, and look forward to seeing the impact this will have on both current and future generations of students in the greater Springfield area.”

The SIMS Medical Center includes over 70 patient simulators, the largest array in New England. Accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, the Medical Center provides a state-of-the-art, immersive educational environment where students and health care personnel obtain new skills while refining existing skills.

With an enrollment of over 1,500 students, SHPS offers 13 associate degree and five certificate programs in health. Health programs include nursing, dental hygiene, physical and occupational therapy, surgical technology and a unique open-admission Health Science degree with embedded certifications.

Healthcare careers are in critical need across the region. STCC – the only technical community college in Massachusetts – is one of the premier organizations directly addressing these shortages.

Additionally, SHPS programs play a critical role in advancing STCC’s commitment to equity and helping to build a diverse regional workforce. STCC is a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution with about 34 percent of its students identifying as Latino/a/x. The novel Health Science degree offered since 2018 has experienced significant enrollment increases in part due to MassReconnect/MassEducate, the initiative providing free community college to Massachusetts residents.

STCC continues to be the most affordable higher education institution in Springfield. With the MassEducate and MassReconnect programs, state residents pay no tuition or fees and eligible students receive an allowance for books and supplies.