Architects finalize nursing building design plans

Architects are arranging plans to build a new building for nursing students and faculty, which will be located across from DCH Regional Medical Center on University Boulevard.

Dean of the Capstone College of Nursing Sara Barger said she is looking forward to working in the new building.

"We haven't had a building to begin with," Barger said.

The nursing building is currently in Russell Hall, which previously was the Student Health Center. Barger said the building was not adequately designed for a nursing school.

"It was built as the Student Health Center, not a nursing building," Barger said.

The nursing school has dramatically grown in recent years, making it difficult for students and faculty to comfortably work, Barger said. In five years, the enrollment for the college has increased 225 percent, she said.

Barger said construction will start January 2009 and end July 2010.

"We will work with architects to look at what our needs are for nursing students," Barger said. "We are just starting to draw the plans."

The new nursing building is expected to be 61,000 square feet, compared to the 20,000 square foot space the college has now.

Barger said the new building will have classrooms holding 88 to 105 students per room.

The current nursing building only has one classroom, which holds 48 students. This causes nursing classes to be held in 13 different locations on campus, which can confuse students, Barger said.

The current building does not have enough room to hold classrooms and simulation rooms. Simulation rooms are important for students to learn from computerized mannequins that simulate the same illnesses that prospective patients will have, Barger said.

"It will be really nice to have everything located in one building, especially lecture classes and clinical practice labs," said Kate Gilly, a junior in her second semester of nursing school. "We need more space in clinical practice lab rooms for hospital beds and supplies."

Beth Ball, a senior in her second year of nursing school, said she is disappointed that the building will not be done in time for her to study and work in.

"I wish it would be done sooner," Ball said. "The one we're working in makes us crammed in rooms and the air conditioning doesn't work well. We have to walk to different buildings for classes, and it just wasn't built to be a nursing school."

Stephanie Higginbotham works in the current Student Health Center and is a senior in her second semester of nursing school. She said she hopes the new nursing building will be similar to the Student Health Center.

"There is a lot more room [there] than in this building," Higginbotham said. "Each doctor has their own room, and labs are well-decorated. The new building should be just as nice as the Student Health Center."

Courtney McDaniel, a junior in her second semester of nursing school, said she looks forward to seeing the new building and is classroom space.

"We will be happy to have a building built and designed for us," McDaniel said.