Franklin Pierce’s Lebanon Academic Center Moves to Centerra Parkway

Franklin Pierce University’s Graduate Center in Lebanon has moved to a new location in the growing business hub, Centerra Parkway, close to partner institutions Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine. The new location has allowed expansion of FPU’s Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) program, including a new, state-of-the-art simulation lab for rural health care delivery.

“Available, excellent rural health care is an unmet need in New Hampshire, and FPU’s strong health professions programs, including MPAS, are important engines to generate medical professionals in our state,” said Peter Eden, Ph.D., president of Franklin Pierce. “Our new location at Centerra Parkway affords close proximity to our established partner institutions at Dartmouth, where we work in collaboration with physicians, researchers, and others.”

FPU received an $825,000 grant in Congressionally Directed Spending in 2023 to fund the new Rural Health Care Simulation Lab at the FPU Graduate Center in Lebanon. With a mission to educate healthcare providers to serve in rural and underserved communities, FPU’s MPAS program is an important partner in health professions workforce development in New Hampshire, said U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

“Relocating FPU’s Graduate Center closer to Lebanon’s growing business community will welcome new opportunities for students, the University and New Hampshire alike—and I’m enormously proud to have secured critical federal funding that helped make this move possible,” said Senator Shaheen. “At a time when the future of rural health care is uncertain, FPU’s Physician Assistant Studies program is taking steps to ensure we have highly-skilled medical professionals in every corner of our state—addressing persistent workforce challenges while advancing Granite Staters’ access to quality care wherever they need it.”

FPU’s MPAS program is the only one available in New Hampshire, and there are none in Vermont, so the FPU graduate center addresses a critical need, said Jeffrey Waldron, M.S., PA-C, director and associate professor in the MPAS program. 

“The simulation suites and patient encounter rooms allow students to learn the everyday real challenges of medicine in a controlled setting,” said Waldron. “The students also benefit from the opportunity to receive constructive feedback and follow up instruction so that they enter the healthcare work force well prepared for whatever they may encounter."

Steven D. Leach, M.D., interim dean of Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, added, "We are excited about the continued opportunities for collaboration with Franklin Pierce leadership and their students, and celebrate the opening of their new facility. A critical area of focus for Geisel's educational programs is to create systems and policies that positively impact health in our communities, and collaborate in clinical teams, not only together, but with community health workers and agencies, to bring optimal health to the patients and communities we serve."