HPU growth reaches new heights

Dec. 30—Editor's note: No. 9 of the top 10 stories of 2022.

HIGH POINT — Even by the standards for growth at High Point University set in the past 15 years, 2022 became a banner year.

This past March, President Nido Qubein announced a $400 million expansion that includes new schools, programs and construction across campus. Some of the projects had been announced previously, but many had not.

The funding to support the expansion includes $100 million in gifts by three families, one of whom has not yet been revealed.

Among the new announcements were academic schools for law, optometry and entrepreneurship and the elevation of the nursing program to a school of nursing.

With the addition of the new schools and the previously announced dental school, HPU will have 14 academic schools, up from three in 2005 when Qubein became university president.

Also announced during 2022 was that Dr. Rick Workman and his wife, Angie, of Windemere, Florida, donated $32 million toward the estimated $100 million cost of the previously announced new dental school. The Workman School of Dental Medicine will be housed in between Congdon School of Health Sciences and the intramural fields on campus, with construction scheduled also to start mid- to late 2023 and be completed in the summer 2025.

HPU will take a novel approach to dental education by setting up a network of dental practices associated with the university that will provide students with training in regular dental practices rather than in an on-campus clinic.

The university also announced John and Lorraine Charman of Palm Beach, Florida, and Bermuda contributed $30 million toward the projected $80 million cost of the previously announced new, state-of-the-art library. The 150,000-square-foot John and Lorraine Charman Library will be on the main campus next to the R.G. Wanek Center on Panther Drive. Construction is scheduled to begin in the middle of 2024 and to be completed in 2026.

Mark D. Martin, 59, a former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court, named as the founding dean of the new law school. Martin, the youngest person ever to serve on that court, was chief justice from 2014 to 2019, when he resigned to become the dean of the law school at Regent University in Virginia Beach, which was founded by Pat Robertson.

The law school will involve a new building, with construction expected to start in mid- to late 2023 and be completed in summer 2025.

Among the other developments at HPU this year:

—Construction is underway on the new $90 million Panther Commons, which will have housing for 400 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as restaurant and retail space. The complex is expected to be complete this coming summer.

—Work is underway on a new $25 million parking garage to provide 1,200 parking spaces. The garage, which will include a coffee shop, will be behind Congdon School of Health Sciences and the Wanek School of Natural Sciences and is expected to be finished this summer.

—The first nursing students in the new program at HPU started studies on campus this past fall. The students are getting hands-on experience with their clinical training at Triad hospitals.

—New majors and minors for academic study were added in cybersecurity, data science, operations and supply chain management. New concentrations were added in the master's of business administration program, with a concentration in health care management, business analytics and supply chain management.

HPU also slipped a few announcements into information it sent the High Point Enterprise for this story:

—Construction will start soon on a new outdoor event space called Panther Pavilion along Panther Drive that will host tailgating and other gatherings associated with HPU athletic events. Construction could be completed this summer.

—Additional former retail areas of the College Village shopping center will begin renovation this summer to become a community service hub, additional staff offices and student support areas.

—Early in 2023 the women's volleyball team will move into a newly renovated locker room and lounge in the Millis Athletic and Convocation Center.

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul