Providence College dedicates Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences, a building to educate healers
By Vicki-Ann Downing ’21G
Just three years and six months after College President Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard, O.P. ’78, ’82G announced his plan to establish a nursing program at Providence College, the college formally dedicated the fully complete, 150,000-square-foot Ben Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences, a state-of-the-art building designed to educate healers.
At the dedication, held inside the new building on April 26, 2025, U.S. Senator Jack Reed praised the college for acting to address a healthcare workforce crisis in the state and the nation and described the building as “breathtaking, extraordinary.”
“The leadership team at Providence College understood the profound need in our community and across the country, and they chose to take an active role in addressing this by opening the School of Nursing and Health Sciences,” Reed said. “With this state-of-the-art facility, PC students seeking a career in health services will have a true home, complete with new laboratories and clinical simulation and research facilities.”
The timeline for building construction was extraordinary, several speakers noted. Father Sicard announced his intention to add programs in nursing and health sciences during his inaugural address in October 2021, as the world was emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. That goal was assigned to Kyle McInnis, Sc.D., now founding dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. The college received state authorization to add a nursing program in September 2022. In the summer of 2023, Fennell Hall was razed to make way for a nursing and health sciences building. The groundbreaking took place in October 2023 and the building opened for classes at the start of the spring semester in January 2025.
On a day to thank all donors who made the building possible, Father Sicard credited Madeleine Mondor for her lead gift, made in honor of her late husband, Ben Mondor ’04Hon., an industrialist and philanthropist best known for his ownership of the Pawtucket Red Sox baseball team. Father Sicard called Mrs. Mondor “a saint walking among us.” A woman of faith, she was drawn to the idea of a nursing and health sciences program rooted in the Catholic tradition and focused on the principles of faith, Father Sicard said.
McInnis said the new building reflects Father Sicard’s “bold vision and boundless enthusiasm.” He thanked the architect, SLAM Collaborative, along with the contractor, Dimeo Construction, and the many laborers who made the building possible, citing the craftsmanship and design that make it “a welcoming center that absolutely has a personality.”
Sylvia Maxfield, Ph.D., interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said nursing and health sciences students benefit from the liberal arts foundation at PC, which prepares them “to approach patient care with empathy, sensitivity, and compassion. Those characteristics derive from an education where we encourage students to explore diverse perspectives and develop a deeper understanding of the human condition.”
The keynote speaker was Paul Coyne, DNP ’08, senior vice president and chief nurse executive at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Coyne, a medical technology entrepreneur, author, and public speaker, leads a team of more than 2,000 clinical professionals. He said that it all began at Providence College.
Coyne was born with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease that makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood. He could not play competitive sports and spent half of his sophomore year of high school hospitalized with an infection. When it came time to look at colleges, he felt “nervous and sad,” wondering if he would ever fit in and be accepted by others.
Sitting in St. Dominic Chapel on a day for accepted students at PC, Coyne watched Manny Vasconcelos, now Rev. Manny Vasconcelos, OFM ’06, ’08G, perform as cantor with the choir. Coyne’s mother, knowing that he loved to sing, turned to him and said, “That could be you, you know.” And Coyne felt God say, “That will be.”
“Over the four years that followed, this wonderful place and the wonderful people here revealed to me that it is not just a heart disease that can make someone feel different,” Coyne said. “Through a strong liberal arts education, and the understanding of various cultures since the dawn of western civilization, I learned that everyone has their own reason to feel different. Race. Religion. Economic status. Nationalities. Language. Gender.
“All of these things, and so many more, have the potential to make someone feel different and be a reason to not belong. But they also have the potential to help us see that it is because we are all different that we all belong, in our humanity. And that each of us belongs to God. And that simple yet profound truth that we discover here in this place is life changing. Because if we all belong to God, then we all belong to each other. And if we belong to God and each other, it is impossible to be alone.”
One week after graduation, shortly before beginning a job at Goldman Sachs, Coyne suffered a stroke. During his recovery, when he was at his lowest, God showed him where to go again — “be a nurse.” Coyne did. He earned five additional degrees in four years and found the courage to write books and poetry and to speak around the country.
“Because of Providence, I had the ingenuity and creativity to invent medical technology and launch businesses,” Coyne said. “I could find the influence to be named one of the youngest chief nurse executives in the country at age 36. And most importantly, because of Providence, I was able to begin walking a path that led to a life of joy and purpose with my wife, and for the last five years, the greatest gift of raising our son, Thomas.”
Coyne said the Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences is not just a beautiful new building on campus, but a fulfillment of the college’s mission to pursue truth, grow in virtue, and serve God and neighbor. In learning to care for others, students will find healing themselves, he said.
The student speaker was Aria Kriticos ’27, a nursing major from Scituate, Rhode Island, who is undertaking the first of many clinical rotations in medical surgery at Roger Williams Hospital in Providence. A member of the Honors Program, she has a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Kriticos is among the first cohort of nursing majors at the college. She said it took a leap of faith to enroll, since at the time the program was new, had no building to call home, and no track record of success.
“But what I did see was a vision — one rooted in academic excellence, human flourishing, and a deep commitment to serving others,” Kriticos said. “I saw passion, excitement, and an overwhelming sense of a Friar family. I saw a place where I could grow not just as a college student, but as a future nurse and person of compassion. And now, standing here today inside this incredible space, I can confidently say that leap of faith was worth it.”
After the speaking program, participants were invited to explore all four levels of the Mondor Center, including the physical assessment and bedside skills laboratory, featuring manikins controlled by artificial intelligence; an anatomy and physiology laboratory with 3D anatomage table demonstrations; and academic poster presentations by nursing and health sciences students.
The first 50 nursing students and the first 50 health sciences students began their studies in the fall of 2023 in temporary laboratories and classrooms in the Feinstein Academic Center. They will graduate in 2027.
