$105M SIUE Health Sciences Project Gets $10.5M Infusion
The planned complex will total 221,000 square feet and once completed will be the largest building on the campus.
EDWARDSVILLE, IL—The state of Illinois will be providing more than $10.5 million in planning funds to create preliminary designs for a $105-million Health Science Building on the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus here.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the funding release last week at an event held at the Illinois University Edwardsville campus. The planned complex will total 221,000 square feet and once completed will be the largest building on the campus.
“With this investment, we’re giving SIUE’s current and future students a world class education in a world class facility, and we’re providing employers with world class talent from one of our state’s greatest institutions,” Pritzker says.
SIUE operates a School of Pharmacy, a School of Nursing, a School of Dental Medicine in Alton, and related health sciences programs in various disciplines to serve central and southern Illinois. Currently, the SOP is primarily located in three buildings in University Park, while the SON is housed in Alumni Hall within the campus core. The SDM will remain in Alton.
The university has seen broad expansion of the health sciences program in the Department of Applied Health, including exercise science, kinesiology, nutrition and dietetics, public health, and speech-language pathology and audiology. Additional programs in education, psychology and social work throughout the University support integrative learning opportunities for health services professionals on the core campus.
“This new Health Science Building is an incredibly exciting step forward, and will allow SIUE and the SIU System to expand its leadership in health science education in southern Illinois and beyond,” said SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook. “Specifically, the additional space will facilitate more simulation training, research, and allow growth in programs within nursing, pharmacy and related health science areas.”
Renovations are expected for the existing SOP buildings and the surrounding proposed site in University Park, such as parking lot design and reconfiguration, and sidewalks, pathways and roadway improvements. The HSB will also include considerations for seismic loads and must achieve LEED silver, university officials stated.
The HSB will provide modern classrooms, teaching and research laboratories, faculty offices, administrative spaces, and student resource and study spaces.