SEMO to Transform Campus with New Roy Blunt Health Professions Hall

SEMO has announced that the former dormitory, Dearmont Hall, will be demolished and replaced with the Roy Blunt Health Professions Hall.

The building will be named after Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, who secured $10 million in federal funds for its construction.

Assistant vice president for marketing and communications Tonya Wells said the new building will be about 55,000 square feet and will include new academic and lab space for the Department of Allied Health, Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, collaborative study areas for students, faculty offices, a gymnasium and a large conference room.

Most of these classes are currently in Parker Hall, built in 1960, but others are spread out to various locations on campus.

SEMO President Dr. Carlos Vargas said the idea to replace Dearmont with a new health science building came about in 2019 when Dearmont partially closed. He said the only thing the building was used for at the time was to provide kitchens for the nutrition program.

Eventually, Vargas negotiated arrangements with Century Casino to allow students to use their commercial kitchens off campus and move out of Dearmont.

Information from SEMO news, photo from the US Senate website.Graphic by Allie Murphree

Other funds for the new building came from Vargas’ Transforming Lives Campaign he announced to the student body in Oct. 2024.

Vargas said the campaign is about 84% to completion of its $60 million goal and has four pillars for funds to go to: athletics, facilities, technology and academics.

SEMO’s annual fund coordinator Kristen Seabaugh said the University works to enact projects for the Transforming Lives Campaign as soon as possible.

“So our goal for these projects, when they are fully funded, to get that ball rolling and get that so that way we can show our donors that this money that you're helping us with, is actually making these things happen,” Seabaugh said.

Vargas said Dearmont will be demolished next fall, and he hopes the Roy Blunt Health Professions Hall will be completed by 2027.

Jason Wagganer, chairperson and professor for the Department of Allied Health, Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, said the new building is going to help bring the department together in literal and metaphorical ways.

“It's gonna house everybody together, so that'll improve collaboration both with teaching, so just the aspects of pedagogy amongst all the different units within the department, but then also all those lab spaces will be under one roof, whereas now we're spread out across different locations,” Wagganer said. “We're in the rec center, here in Parker, and then we're also in an off-campus location as well. We'll all come together so the whole department will be under one roof, which will be amazing.”

Wagganer also noted that the new building will include necessary technological upgrades for the department, including new lab spaces that match new healthcare technologies.

When Roy Blunt Health Professions Hall is built, all the offices and classes currently in Parker will be moved. Parker Hall will still be used for its gymnastics gym. Parker may be demolished and replaced if a new building can house a gymnastics gym.