Spring Hill College has broken ground on the $35 million Annette N. Shelby Health and Science Innovation Center. The facility will expand the college’s nursing and pre-med programs, as well as provide space for new programs like exercise science and other health sciences.

Senator Richard Shelby addressed the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony. “Annette devoted her life to education, mentorship and public service,” Shelby said about his wife, who died in July. “I am proud to see her legacy live on here at Spring Hill.”

A native of Alabama, Annette Shelby was the first woman to earn tenure at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, a Jesuit institution.

The center will be 57,000 square feet and will have an anatomage lab, using digital cadavers for training, a high-tech nursing simulation lab space, virtual reality lab and labs dedicated to nursing skills and microscopy. Completion is expected in spring 2027.

The construction is being supported by federal funding, and investments from the city of Mobile and Mobile County.