S.C. University Breaks Ground on New Health Science Lab
Private Christian university Columbia International University, located in Columbia, S.C., recently held a groundbreaking and dedication for a new Health Science Lab facility. The 2,200-square-foot space will contain biology and chemistry lab classrooms and is scheduled to open in time for the fall 2022 semester, according to a news release.
The expanded academic space is intended to make room for biomedical science and other pre-requisite classes for the university’s new Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. The program started accepting its first batch of applications in January, and classes start in August—pending approval of the State Board of Nursing.
“With every clinical course, [the students] will spend four weeks in simulation on campus before they spend four weeks in the hospital or the clinical setting,” said Jill McElheny, Director of Nursing Programs and Professor of Nursing at the university. “During those four weeks of simulation, we’ll debrief and learn from the mistakes they may have made, and then they’ll be checked off before they can enter the clinical facilities. They will be very well prepared.”
Dean of Science Programs David DeWitt attended the groundbreaking on Tuesday, Feb. 22, and called the new labs fundamental to the university’s mission to “educate people from a biblical worldview to impact the nations with the message of Christ,” he said. “When you look at the motto of CIU, ‘To Know Him and to Make Him Known,’ what we can do is prepare students from the biblical worldview to minister to the spiritual and physical needs of people.”
The university is partnering with Mashburn Construction as the project’s construction manager.
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Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].