SMU to Celebrate Its Modern New Oakland Campus at Grand Opening Event

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samuel Merritt University (SMU), a leader in healthcare education for over a century, today announced the Jan. 27 grand opening of its state-of-the-art downtown Oakland campus, which empowers students with the spaces, technology and hands-on learning they need to succeed from day one and positions them to be practice-ready upon graduation. The celebration will bring together government officials, visionary donors, SMU’s healthcare and academic partners, media, and SMU alumni, faculty, staff and students.

“Our modern, centrally-located new campus in downtown Oakland advances our mission to strengthen the healthcare workforce, expand opportunity and social mobility for students, and deliver better care to the communities that we serve,” said Ching-Hua Wang, MD, PhD, president of SMU. “Centralizing programs and expanding access to advanced clinical training, the campus highlights our commitment to health equity and community impact. We’re excited to celebrate this important moment with the community at next week’s grand opening event.”

The grand opening program – featuring Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife – will kick off with an introduction of the building by SMU Executive Vice President and Treasurer Dave Lawlor, followed by a welcome address from SMU President Wang and brief remarks from both SMU Board members and current SMU students.

The new campus houses an incredible array of unique learning environments, including:

• The Health Sciences Simulation Center: The largest simulation center in the region, this new center in Oakland represents SMU’s commitment to high-quality, technology-enabled education. With nearly 40 dedicated spaces – including high-fidelity simulation rooms, multidisciplinary skills labs, podiatry surgical skills areas, standardized patient spaces and debrief rooms – the Health Sciences Simulation Center exists to help students build confidence, clinical judgment and readiness for real-world care.
• Interprofessional simulation suites: Interprofessional education and collaboration are a hallmark of the SMU educational experience. Simulation suites at the new Oakland campus provide a unique opportunity for students and faculty to bridge disciplinary boundaries, aligning with the way health care is evolving. Simulations lay the foundation that enables SMU graduates to deeply understand team-based approaches to care.
• Specialty labs: The cutting-edge campus also features specialty labs, enabling students to experience what healthcare work is really like. The Cadaver Lab is second to none. This teaching facility, and adjacent virtual anatomy lab, blend AR/VR and 3-D resources to supplement traditional anatomy instruction. At the Home Health Center, students can practice in-home care and skilled nursing facility care in a setting that feels like a home.
• The Motion Analysis Research Center (MARC): The new-era campus also includes the MARC, which serves as a research hub for students and faculty and a bridge to the larger community. The analysis of human motion has preventative and diagnostic implications, and the MARC serves as a venue for student-led and faculty collaborative research.
• The Center for Community Engagement: Illustrating SMU’s commitment to meaningful, impactful engagement with the community, the university designed the new Oakland campus to include the Center for Community Engagement. This important center serves as a nexus between higher education, clinical practice and community health, offering programming that demonstrates pathways to healthcare careers for K-12 students, and education and upskilling of the existing healthcare workforce. The center also provides opportunities for faculty and students to contribute to the region through pro bono clinics, public health screenings, education events and health advocacy. SMU’s Center for Community Engagement anticipates expanded outreach and clinical opportunities as a result of the high concentration of organizations in the vicinity of the Oakland campus.

Students, faculty and staff are excited by the opportunities the new campus represents:

• First-year Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia student Andrew Barone said: “… I’m honestly floored. It’s really gorgeous, super modern, so much more space than the old campus.”
• First-year Doctor of Physical Therapy student Sierra Raha commented: “There are so many more rooms for us to collaborate with each other…. Super nice. It’s really modern, and I love how there’s so much just open air and light everywhere….”
• Oakland campus Executive Assistant and Project Manager Karen Shows added: “It’s been really thrilling to see their reaction and see the campus through [students’] eyes. We’ve been working for quite some time to put all this together, and it’s nice to see it finally come to fruition and then to be able to see their reactions to it.”

The Jan. 27 grand opening, which runs from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., will provide the larger community – including government officials, philanthropic leaders, SMU partners and media – an opportunity to experience this transformative new campus in Oakland for themselves.

About SMU

Since 1909, Samuel Merritt University (SMU) has been a leader in healthcare education, preparing students to meet critical workforce needs across California. With campuses in Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco Peninsula and Fresno, SMU has continually expanded its impact, becoming a doctoral-granting institution in 2002. In 2024, SMU opened its Fresno campus to address Central Valley healthcare challenges. The new City Center Campus in downtown Oakland features state-of-the-art facilities, including a Health Sciences Simulation Center and a Motion Analysis Research Center, reinforcing SMU’s commitment to training compassionate, skilled healthcare professionals.