Community Corner
Adelphi to Break Ground for new College of Nursing and Public Health Building
Dean Patrick Coonan says it was time to "raise the bar."
Adelphi University's nursing program is celebrating its 70th anniversary by renaming the school of nursing and launching plans for the program's new 99,691 square-foot home.
The College of Nursing and Public Health will also include a newly created Center for Health Innovation. A revamp of the program and new location offers a variety of some of the most advanced technologies that will be a step up from the former school of nursing Adelphi has seen in the past.
“We have grown in size and grown in stature. We offer programs in nursing on all levels. We have increased a lot of our research and we felt it was time to raise the bar,” said Dean Patrick Coonan ‘78, Ed. D., R.N., NEA-BC, FACHE.
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Outlines for the building and program have been in discussion for over two years, and finally was approved by the university board of trustees, President Robert A. Scott, provost and faculty. The name change “elevates the important individual contributions of Nursing and Public Health, as well as the emerging critical relationship between them,” provost and senior vice president for academic affairs Dr. Gayle D. Insler told faculty. “The change also reflects respect for the rich 70-year history of Adelphi's School of Nursing.”
The comprehensive education within Adelphi's College of Nursing and Public Health is dedicated to providing students with specialized skills to succeed as leaders in the field.
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The College of Nursing will offer a completely new component of education by integrating nursing and public health under one roof. “Adelphi will be one of only two or three of colleges of both nursing and public health. The combination of these two disciplines is really cutting edge,” Dean Coonan said.
Students can earn a number of graduate and masters degrees through Adelphi's nursing program. The nutrition master’s degree program, designed for graduates who already have a bachelor’s or graduate degree, and an online master's degree program in nutrition are both part of the nursing program. In addition a degree in Master of Public Health is also available.
The first floor will also be the new home of academic support services such as the Learning Center, Writing Center, Disability Support Services and Bridges to Adelphi. The Nexus building will also include several service related administration offices such as the Office of University Admissions, five seminar and conference rooms and a new welcome center for the university.
The new space will host more than 15 up-to-date learning centers, which will add to over 11,400 square feet of classrooms and 21,000 square feet for health-related programs.
“The building is essentially getting five to ten times more space then what is available now including state-of-the-art learning labs for the nurses as well as other majors,” Dean Coonan said.
Clinical simulation, research and informatics labs will be “digitally tied together,” said Coonan. All technologies will have energy efficient systems, in addition to Adelphi's already green campus.
Nursing students will have access to up to 10 examination rooms that will include hospital settings, intensive care room, a simulated labor and delivery room and a “home-care lab” that will resemble realistic in-home scenarios.
The nursing program has come far since its start as a 30-month war emergency course for 27 women in 1943. It was the first central collegiate School of Nursing on Long Island, as well as one of the largest college units of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II. The program is now one of the largest in the United States.
Experimental learning is practiced in the existing study abroad program which allows nursing students to internationally travel to Costa Rica, Peru and Ecuador, as well as serve on American Indian reservations. Study abroad destinations plan to develop as collaborative community partners increase.
“Our nursing program has a great reputation and strong history. We felt it was time to look at nursing and health care from a future perspective,” Dean Coonan said.
With over 1,200 students currently enrolled, the program hopes to increase their number of graduates along with the ever growing healthcare concentrations currently in demand. Adelphi plans to break ground in November 2013 and be open to students by August 2015.
“We are really looking forward to this, and hold it up there as one of the best in the area moving forward,” Dean Coonan said.
A special reunion for Adelphi nursing alumni June 8 offered opportunities to network, reminisce and learn about the exciting future of the College of Nursing and Public Health.
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