Satellite campuses of Austin Community College and Texas State University in Round Rock are investing in the Round Rock area in both the health care and technical industries.

Texas State spokesperson Matt Flores said the university initially chose to place health professions programs in the Round Rock area because it is a center of medical resources throughout Austin. Texas State houses the St. David’s School of Nursing at its Round Rock campus.

The school plans to continue expanding its programs by constructing a new facility, to be completed before fall 2018, now termed the health professions building.

When opened, the building will house the university’s physical therapy, respiratory care and communications disorders programs. Flores said by moving these programs north of San Marcos, the school will be able to expand the programs by roughly 30 percent.

The university eventually plans to move all programs within the College of Health Professions to the Round Rock campus.

“There are numerous health care institutions that are represented in that area that make it ideal for students who are pursuing health careers to do their clinical portion of instruction,” Flores said in an email.

ACC expansion

ACC’s Round Rock campus is also expanding services to accommodate a greater student population.

Since 2010, when the Round Rock ACC campus was first established, the school has offered a mix of general academic courses, technical programs and health science programs, including an associate degree in nursing, medical laboratory and radiology. 

Many of these programs are also offered at other ACC campus locations but were offered at the Round Rock campus for the convenience of ACC students living in North Austin locations.

“With the growth of the metro area by 2010, a student in north Williamson County that would want to take an automotive course in a south campus couldn’t get all the way through the city by 5:30 p.m.,” ACC Vice President of Instruction Mike Midgley said.

He said the university is building a new facility, to open before the fall 2018 semester, to accommodate the growing needs of Round Rock students.

The new building will allow ACC to expand the capacity of the campus by an additional 20 percent, moving toward what Midgley says is the long-term target student population of 10,000 students.

The opening of the building will also allow ACC to complete renovations at existing buildings, which will free up space for classes there. Midgley said the new spaces will include simulation labs for both technical and health science skills as well as general-purpose classrooms.

The new building will also have what the school is calling an ACCelerator, a computer lab that teaches math skills, necessary for both technical and health professions careers, in an innovative way online.

Following the completion of Phase 2 of an ongoing ACC bond project, Midgley said ACC will move to Phase 3, which will include significant technical education expansion to bring additional programs—such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning to the Round Rock campus.