Dedication ceremony commemorates move into a new era for University of Florida College of Nursing
The University of Florida College of Nursing recently marked the opening of its sophisticated and technologically advanced new home with a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 173,133-square-foot structure, called the Health Professions/Nursing/Pharmacy Complex, provides educational, administrative and research space for the College of Nursing, as well as the UF colleges of Health Professions and Pharmacy.
The five-story, $24.7 million complex is at the north end of the UF Health Science Center. Each college has its own entrance and facilities, and a 500-seat auditorium is available to faculty and students from the entire UF Health Science Center for special events. During the late spring dedication ceremony, Kathleen Ann Long, Ph.D., A.P.R.N., F.A.A.N., dean of the UF College of Nursing, noted the legacy left by the college’s founders. The new and beautiful surroundings befit the college’s rich heritage, she said.
“Forty-seven years ago Dorothy M. Smith, the University of Florida College of Nursing founding dean, brought together an innovative, risk-taking group of faculty and students,” Long said. “With them she built a nationally acclaimed model for academically based, practice-linked nursing education. It is known nationally for the quality of its education and research, the translation of knowledge to improve patient care, and perhaps most of all, for the spirit, dedication and loyalty of its graduates.
“For all of this, however, the University of Florida College of Nursing has never had a home. We have had five locations in our 47-year history, but we have never before had a home. And so this morning it is my privilege and my delight to finally say, ‘Welcome home, Dorothy Smith. Welcome home, alumni, faculty, students, staff, supporters and friends of the UF College of Nursing. Welcome home!’” Notable guests at the dedication ceremony were UF Vice President for Health Affairs Emeritus David Challoner, M.D., and former Health Science Center Associate Vice President for External Relations Gerold Schiebler, M.D., who both had instrumental roles in the development of the complex. Many of the College of Nursing’s faculty emeriti, alumni and friends were on hand to celebrate the landmark event, as were nursing leaders from around the state.
The new facility provides the College of Nursing with approximately three times the space it previously occupied, with room for faculty offices, state-of-the-art classrooms and research facilities. The college’s expanded and enhanced Iona M. Pettengill Nursing Resource Center is an educational laboratory and teaching space that is equipped with advanced technology, including wireless Web access, projection screens for each laboratory, two human patient simulators and an intravenous simulator.
The building provides the college’s burgeoning research program with increased space and resources. The facility contains four research data collection/examination rooms, including a physiology wet laboratory where researchers will be able to process, store and analyze laboratory samples. The Matthew and Dorothy Obinger Doctoral Student Room gives graduate students their own workspace equipped with computers.
The three colleges share classrooms, lecture halls and teaching laboratories. A shared student services center offers admissions materials, program information, and academic and financial counseling. Specially designed classrooms, wireless technology and videoconferencing capabilities enhance the three colleges’ distance learning degree programs.