Northern Neck Times

Randolph-Macon College issued the following announcement on Sept. 11

At the halftime of the College’s first football game of the 2021 season, Randolph-Macon College celebrated the groundbreaking of Duke Hall by turning the dirt in a ceremonial box on Day Field. The following College leaders joined President Robert Lindgren to celebrate the beginning of construction and to thank all who have donated thus far, helping to begin making the building project a reality:

• Athletic Director Jeff Burns;
• Physician Assistant (PA) Program Director Erich Grant;
• Board of Trustees Vice Chair Dr. Steve Long ’82;
• Board of Trustees Secretary Hon. Grace Carroll ’85;
• Board of Trustees Buildings & Grounds Committee Chair Earl Johnson ’66;
• and Board of Trustees and Duke Hall/Crenshaw Gym Fund-raising co-leaders Dave Meleski ’81, Woody Staub ’84, and Allison O’Brien ’77 (Trustee Emerita) 

Duke Hall will be built on the west side of Day Field, and adjacent to new home stands. The building will be home to a dedicated floor for the PA program, the College’s first graduate program. The planned 45,000-square-foot Duke Hall will also house new locker rooms for four women’s sports team and two men’s teams, as well as a second training room. The upper stories will hold athletic offices and meeting rooms, a new press box, three general use classrooms, and an event space for small gatherings. 

"Our student-athletes are very important to who we are and what we do here at Randolph-Macon," said President Robert R. Lindgren. "A third of our students participate in intercollegiate athletics, and, in that regard, providing updated locker room facilities, a new training facility, and better offices for our athletic staff is very much in their interest and in the College's interest as well."

The groundbreaking also marks an important milestone for the PA program, which will welcome its first cohort in January 2023. 

Randolph-Macon College’s newest program comes at a key time to meet the needs of our health systems, and graduates will be set to enter a job market in high demand for their skills. Physician Assistant was recently ranked #1 in “Best 100 Jobs” and “Best Healthcare Jobs” by U.S. News and World Report, factoring in everything from quality-of-life and job satisfaction to compensation and potential for career growth.

“This program is a timely extension of our long-standing mission to develop the mind and character of our graduates and an important expansion of the degrees we confer as an institution,” noted Lindgren. “We are immensely proud that Randolph-Macon’s first graduate program provides both an excellent career path for our future students and a critical service to society.” 

Construction on Duke Hall is expected to be completed in the Fall of 2022.

Original source can be found here.