A signed steel beam rising above the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus in April marked more than a construction milestone. Its placement atop the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building celebrated the generosity infused in the transformational new home for the College of Nursing.
The approximately 90,000-square-foot facility is being funded through a partnership of philanthropy and state support. Leading that philanthropic charge is an $8 million gift from the Kennedy Foundation, Inc., the largest single gift in College of Nursing history. The facility is named in memory of Dorothy and Jim Kennedy, parents of Kennedy Foundation trustees Jim Kennedy III, Elizabeth Kennedy Spratlin and Molly Kennedy (’82). It will also be the first building on UTC’s campus named for an alumna. Dorothy Kennedy (’82) earned her English degree while attending UTC alongside her daughter, Molly. of Hoar Construction.
“The Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building represents far more than new space—it signals who we are becoming as a University,” said Chancellor Lori Mann Bruce.
When completed, the building will feature state-of-the-art classrooms and an advanced simulation lab where students can gain immersive, hands-on experience. The additional space will allow the College of Nursing to increase enrollment to 150% of its current level, preparing more practice-ready nurses to meet growing health care needs in Chattanooga and beyond.
Before the topping off ceremony, students, faculty, staff, construction partners and donors added their signatures to the building’s highest structural beam. Together, those names offer a lasting reminder that this milestone was achieved through collective commitment.
Scheduled for completion in 2027, the Kennedy Health Sciences Building will stand as a testament to what philanthropy makes possible: expanded educational opportunity, a stronger health care workforce and healthier communities for generations to come.
