By Rebecca Portnoy, Communications Manager, Concordia College

Sep. 4, 2019:  Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Karl and Mrs. Shirley Kreft, The Kreft Center is taking shape on the campus of Concordia College New York. The Brunn-Maier Science Hall will be formally renamed and rededicated this fall. The Kreft Center will house new and updated labs and learning spaces for Concordia College’s School of Health Sciences and Nursing, including a new radiologic technologies wing and high fidelity patient simulation nursing lab. Dr. Kreft is the owner and former president of Bohle Machine Tools, and has served with distinction in advisory and board-level roles throughout the Concordia University System and at a variety of Lutheran institutions including Valparaiso University. 

President of Concordia College Dr. John A. Nunes, for whom Dr. Kreft has been a career-long mentor, said: “Dr. and Mrs. Kreft’s extraordinary gift to Concordia College embodies both their commitment to the health sciences and their passion for high quality education. I am elated at this opportunity for our students, and on a personal note, will be deeply gratified to see this tangible tribute to my friend and mentor permanently ingrained in the campus of Concordia.”    

The Kreft Center arrives as the College’s nursing and radiologic technologies programs celebrate consistent excellence in instruction and professional preparation.

Year after year, Concordia’s nursing graduates’ first-time NCLEX licensing exam pass rates are in the mid- to high 90s range, placing Concordia among the top 5 programs in New York State and well above the national average. The class of 2018 just set a new benchmark, however, with a 100% first-time pass rate that to date stands alone among nursing schools in the state. 

Founded in 2014, Concordia’s radiologic technologies program boasts an average first-time pass rate of 91% on the ARRT licensing exam. Graduates of the unique four-year baccalaureate program are 100% employed within six months, with access to leadership roles not open to those with a typical two-year radiologic technologies degree.

The radiologic technologies program is moving from cramped quarters in Schoenfeld to its new home on the ground floor of The Kreft Center, where a suite of outdated spaces is being demolished and redesigned to accommodate a lab, observation room, and spacious classroom. Students will learn on both new state-of-the-art ionized machines and portable machines. The Radiologic Technologies Wing will also be able to accommodate the College’s new sonography program slated for 2020.

With new equipment for the nursing program, the Patricia Nelson Nursing Lab will become a high fidelity patient simulation lab, with reconfigurable furniture designed to accommodate multiple learning modes. Nursing students will see refurbished classrooms and a new locker room as well. The Kreft Center will also gain renovated classrooms and a new biology/physics lab.

Dr. Susan Apold, Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Nursing said: “I am very excited that thanks to Dr. And Mrs. Kreft, our equipment, labs and learning spaces will accurately reflect the excellence of our nursing, radiologic technologies and science programs. Our hard-working and high-achieving students, faculty and staff deserve the best as we pursue our shared vocation for the health and healing sciences.”

Pictured: Dr. Kreft and Concordia College President, Dr. John Nunes

Photo courtesy Concordia College

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