Cox College history

Cox’s favorite saying was “Find a need and fill it.” In 1948, a group of doctors told him about a need – Burge Hospital and the nursing school were on the verge of closing due to financial problems.

Under the guidance of Lester E. Cox, Burge Hospital had the services and capacity required by the State Board of Nursing to admit additional students, and 15 were admitted in January 1951.

In 1956, 100 students began living on the current campus and today’s Fountain Plaza Room was the original lounge.

Lester E. Cox continued to help the hospital and school until his death in 1968.

In 1969, the hospital name was changed to Lester E. Cox Medical Center to honor this businessman who had been so integral to the hospital’s survival and growth.

Lester L. was directly involved with the decision to purchase land in south Springfield in 1971, which later became the site of the Cox South campus.

He served as chairman of the board until his untimely death in December 1993.

The Cox Health Systems Board of Directors approved the recommendation on April 21, 1994.

More than 2,500 nurses earned diplomas from the institution with the final Burge School of Nursing graduation held in June 1996.

His daughter, Amanda Barrett Cox, begin serving on the College Board in 2013.

In 2019, the college received approval from the Missouri State Board of Nursing to expand it's nursing class size from 250 to 400 students in anticipation of its completion of a $6.6 million renovation of the main campus in Springfield, making it the second largest nursing program in the state.

In fall 2021, the Emory Board of Trustees approved a Land Acknowledgment for Emory University recognizing the Muscogee (Creek) and other Indigenous nations expelled in the years before Emory’s founding.