chesteryes.com ::

News May 09, 2010 New nursing building is coming to Widener Sunday, May 9, 2010 By AMY BRISSON Times Correspondent CHESTER — A new “green” building is going up in the heart of Widener University’s campus to house the school’s nursing program and a recently founded leadership institute. The yet-unamed three-story, 35,000 square-foot academic building will be built just behind the school’s Old Main building and is scheduled to open by 2012. “This is another fantastic time in the City of Chester. It just complements everything we’ve been doing here in the city,” said Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr. at a foundation-laying ceremony with University President James T. Harris III Thursday. A large crowd gathered on the sunny campus lawn to cheer on Harris, Butler and several other university leaders as they spread a thick layer of mortar onto the beginnings of a brick wall and then set in a concrete block bearing the school’s coat of arms. The new building is expected to cost $15 million and is funded by a $1.2 million state grant and an expected enrollment increase in the school’s nursing program. The school is not expecting to incur any new debt in the construction. “This is an important public and private venture,” said Harris. “Obviously it’s important to be building something like this in these tough economic times, it provides jobs for the city and the region.” The facility also gives the school an opportunity to revamp its nursing program. The building will house a number of laboratories, including a hospital simulation lab, an intensive care unit/trauma lab, a pediatrics suite, an obstetrics suite and an apartment lab to simulate home care. “The facility will offer our nursing students one of the most hands-on nursing education opportunities in the greater Philadelphia region,” said School of Nursing Dean Deborah R. Garrison. It will also house the Oskin Leadership Institute, founded in 2008 with a $5 million gift from former Widener Board of Trustees President David W. Oskin and his wife, JoEllen Oskin. The building, designed by a Wilmington, Del., architecture company, will be the first on campus to be certified to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

News
May 09, 2010

New nursing building is coming to Widener
Sunday, May 9, 2010

By AMY BRISSON
Times Correspondent

CHESTER — A new “green” building is going up in the heart of Widener University’s campus to house the school’s nursing program and a recently founded leadership institute.

The yet-unamed three-story, 35,000 square-foot academic building will be built just behind the school’s Old Main building and is scheduled to open by 2012.

“This is another fantastic time in the City of Chester. It just complements everything we’ve been doing here in the city,” said Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr. at a foundation-laying ceremony with University President James T. Harris III Thursday.

A large crowd gathered on the sunny campus lawn to cheer on Harris, Butler and several other university leaders as they spread a thick layer of mortar onto the beginnings of a brick wall and then set in a concrete block bearing the school’s coat of arms.

The new building is expected to cost $15 million and is funded by a $1.2 million state grant and an expected enrollment increase in the school’s nursing program. The school is not expecting to incur any new debt in the construction.

“This is an important public and private venture,” said Harris. “Obviously it’s important to be building something like this in these tough economic times, it provides jobs for the city and the region.”

The facility also gives the school an opportunity to revamp its nursing program. The building will house a number of laboratories, including a hospital simulation lab, an intensive care unit/trauma lab, a pediatrics suite, an obstetrics suite and an apartment lab to simulate home care.

“The facility will offer our nursing students one of the most hands-on nursing education opportunities in the greater Philadelphia region,” said School of Nursing Dean Deborah R. Garrison.

It will also house the Oskin Leadership Institute, founded in 2008 with a $5 million gift from former Widener Board of Trustees President David W. Oskin and his wife, JoEllen Oskin.

The building, designed by a Wilmington, Del., architecture company, will be the first on campus to be certified to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.