Spalding University senior Lauren McKnight used to have to take turns with her classmates when it came to practicing medical procedures on mannequins during laboratory periods.
Then in August, Spalding University opened the doors to its new College of Health and Natural Sciences facility on South Third Street.
"Now there is so much more room. … It is just so much bigger. We have more supplies," said McKnight, 21. "The number of students that are allowed to practice their skills has increased dramatically."
University officials are expected to join with religious and political leaders this morning to officially celebrate the opening of the state-of-the-art building that is now home to the university's School of Nursing, the School of Natural Science and the Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy.
The nearly 50,000- square-foot building also houses the Kosair Charities enTECH Center, the state's only Microsoft Accessibility Resource Center for children and adults with disabilities.
Spalding President Jo Ann Rooney said the project is the most costly the university has ever undertaken. In all, including the purchase of the original building in 2006 from the Center for Women and Families, the project cost about $8 million.
The renovation essentially involved gutting the original building and remodeling it to include first-floor classrooms and second-floor laboratories that serve 500 to 600 nursing, occupational-therapy and natural-science students and nearly 50 administrators, faculty members and staff.
Previously the College of Health and Natural Sciences' programs were split between three buildings across Spalding's downtown campus.
Housing the three programs under one roof will allow for more efficiency and collaboration, Rooney said.
"It will also allow us to expand," she said. "We were locked into lab spaces that truly could not accommodate as many students as this community could use and who also wanted to be here."
The new building gives nursing and occupational-therapy students access to simulation labs with interactive figures ranging from infant to adult, allowing students to practice real-life procedures.
"We are completely jazzed about this building. We think it opens up all kinds of possibilities," said Jacqui McMillian-Bohler, director of the college's nursing program.
The new College of Health and Natural Sciences building is just one phase in the independent Catholic university's master plan. Over the next several years, the college -- which was established in 1814 and named after Catherine Spalding, founder of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth -- plans to improve several of its buildings, expand its dinning facilities and create more green space.
Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson said the renovation of the building "is a testament to Spalding University."
"They have become a thriving, thoughtful urban university, and they've made a conscious choice to contribute to the fabric of our downtown," he said.
Reporter Nancy Rodriguez can be reached at (502) 582-7079.source
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