— Indian Capital Technology Center and Connors State College have found a way to join allied health/nursing facilities on their North 41st Street campuses.

“The two buildings will be connected by a walkway, but more importantly, they’ll be connected by programs for students,” Connors President Dr. Tim Faltyn said.

The buildings are in the planning process, but could be about 24,000 to 28,000 square feet, officials said. The buildings would house classrooms and labs for nursing and allied health programs.

If the Oklahoma A & M Board of Regents approves the plan, ground for the Connors building could be broken this spring on its east Muskogee campus, 2501 N. 41st St., Faltyn said.

Construction at ICTC, 2401 N. 41st St. E., would begin as soon as the technology center’s administrative services building is relocated, ICTC Superintendent Tom Stiles said.

“This building has to go,” Stiles said. “It was put here 25 years ago and built by students.”

The new administration building would be west of the current building, Stiles said. It also would be constructed mostly by ICTC building construction students, he said. Stiles said he expects the administration building’s foundation to be laid by early fall and the building finished by the time school lets out in May.

Stiles and Faltyn said each building could cost about $3.5 million.

ICTC had been setting back reserve money for the past five years to build a new facility, Stiles said.

The goal of a health facility got another push after Faltyn became Connors president in July 2011, he said.

At a meeting of the Eastern Oklahoma Health Care Coalition in September, Faltyn shared a vision for a health facility. Students could learn various levels of nursing as well as different areas of allied health, such as sports medicine or physical/occupational therapy.

Faltyn said the Connors nursing program could move into the proposed facility. The nursing program currently shares space at Northeastern State University’s Muskogee campus.

“This will allow our campuses to share facilities and, at some point, share instructional staffs,” Stiles said. “By sharing our resources, we can do more for less.”

Stiles called the nursing and allied health partnership with Connors a “win-win mix.”

“We want the ability to expand and meet the needs of a growing area,” he said.

“There are a lot of programs where we can share resources,” Faltyn said. “We have a lot of good people in Muskogee, and we want to keep them here.”

Reach Cathy Spaulding at (918) 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.