UTEP Receives $1.1 Million Gift from The Hospitals of Providence to Strengthen Nursing Workforce
EL PASO, Texas (Oct. 2, 2025) – The University of Texas at El Paso’s College of Nursing will bolster its efforts to alleviate the region’s ongoing nursing shortage thanks to a $1.1 million gift from The Hospitals of Providence and Tenet Healthcare Foundation.
The funds will be used to enhance nursing simulation laboratories with advanced, artificial intelligence-enhanced simulation manikins, allowing the college to drastically increase the size of its undergraduate class by providing students with more opportunities for state-of-the-art, hands-on clinical education and training.
“This gift will take our Nursing Center for Simulation to the next level with very realistic mannikins,” said UTEP President Heather Wilson. “We really appreciate the support of The Hospitals of Providence to increase the number of highly qualified nurses in our region.”
The new manikins will help students practice real-world patient care scenarios in a controlled environment, expanding UTEP’s simulation-based learning capacity. The manikins will live in the College of Nursing’s Center for Simulation, a 16,000 square-foot facility where students currently practice various health care scenarios.
With more high-fidelity manikins, more students will be able to train simultaneously, and the College of Nursing will be able to graduate more nurses each semester, said Leslie Robbins, Ph.D., dean of the College of Nursing.
“This partnership with UTEP reflects our commitment to strengthening the health care infrastructure of the El Paso community – as our community grows, we have grown with it and it’s essential that we have the nursing talent available to provide that needed care,” said Nicholas Tejeda, Western Group President for Tenet Healthcare. “As the largest health care network and largest private employer, our goal is to help train the next generation of health care providers and to retain that talent here locally. By working together with our partners at UTEP, we can help ensure that our hospitals have the talented professionals they need to provide high-quality care to patients and loved ones in our region.”
The gift from The Hospitals of Providence will be matched with funding from a pre-existing grant from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation, further amplifying the impact of the investment.
“This generous gift from The Hospitals of Providence represents a transformative step forward for nursing education in our community,” said Robbins. “These manikins can move, blink, talk and more. By equipping our students with the most advanced simulation tools available, we are ensuring they graduate with the confidence, competence, and clinical judgment needed to succeed in today’s complex health care environment.”
The investment from The Hospitals of Providence builds on UTEP’s long-standing efforts to expand access to nursing education and prepare graduates who reflect the communities they serve.
With the addition of AI-enhanced manikins, UTEP will be able to provide more immersive training in critical areas such as patient assessment, clinical decision-making and emergency response.
“This is more than an investment in technology,” Robbins added. “It’s an investment in people, in opportunity and in the health of our community.”
Last Updated on October 02, 2025 at 12:00 AM | Originally published October 02, 2025
By MC Staff UTEP Marketing and Communications
