University of Nebraska Medical Center history

The University of Nebraska College of Medicine came into being on April 18, 1902, when the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska and the Omaha Medical College signed an agreement to jointly offer a four-year curriculum leading to an MD degree.

By 1904 the farm campus went beyond its own boundaries to establish an experimental station at North Platte, the first of many research centers that would serve the state in later years.

The university began to outgrow its original four-block city campus, and in 1906 constructed a student activity center, known as the Temple Building, the first university building south of R Street.

The first decade of the 20th century saw enrollment at NU increase by a third, and by 1909 nearly 4,000 students were in attendance.

UNMC has been continuously accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 1913.

Put to the vote of the people in 1915, the proposal was defeated, and work was begun anew for expansion on both campuses.

A university hospital opened in 1917.

City campus, on the other hand, developed in a variety of styles, experiencing rapid growth in the postwar years of the 1920s.

Two years after the formal dedication of Love Library in 1947, another landmark was dedicated near the center of campus—the Mueller Carillon Tower.

Despite the notable changes in dental technology and the continual need for updating knowledge and skill, eight members of the UNMC COD Class of 1961 continue to practice dentistry.

In 1968, the University of Nebraska united its health sciences, forming the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus.

UNMC Physicians, a clinical practice group that dates back to 1971, also operated several outpatient clinics in the area.

In 1991, a technology transfer office was created, known as UNeMed.

In 1997, the UNMC hospital merged with the nearby Bishop Clarkson Hospital to become what was later renamed Nebraska Medicine.

The Lied Transplant Center, which opened in 1999, combines the latest in transplant patient care with innovative research areas;

In 2003, the NHS changed its name to The Nebraska Medical Center – which is the state’s largest and highest-rated hospital.

UNMC formed the College of Public Health in 2006.

The Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education, which opened in 2008, is the home of the UNMC College of Medicine;

Named after the physician, Doctor Michael Sorrell, the Sorrell Center was built in 2009 and has state-of-art technology in the lecture halls, classrooms and simulation center.

The Center for Nursing Science expansion to the UNMC College of Nursing Omaha campus opened in 2010;

Its state-of-the-art building – named the Harold M. and Beverly Maurer Center for Public Health – opened in 2011.

The Stanley M. Truhlsen Eye Institute, which was completed in Spring 2013.

In October 2014, it was publicly announced that The Nebraska Medical Center, Bellevue Medical Center and UNMC Physicians would operate under one name: Nebraska Medicine.

The Health Science Education Complex, a collaboration between UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Kearney, houses programs of the College of Nursing and the College of Allied Health Professions, completed in 2015;

The Lauritzen Outpatient Center, which includes the Fritch Surgery Center, opened in 2016.

The two organizations worked together on the $323 million Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, the largest project in campus and state history, which opened in June 2017.

The facility is scheduled to open in 2019.