Spalding Receives $2M Grant for School of Physical Therapy

Spalding University in Louisville, Ky., received a $2 million grant this week from Kosair Charities for its new School of Physical Therapy. The funds will be used for an ongoing renovation project converting a campus building into the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program’s new home. The facility will be named the Kosair Charities School of Physical Therapy and Center for Interprofessional Education, and construction is scheduled for completion by late 2021.

The renovation project converting the former V.V. Cooke Chevrolet dealership, which the university acquired in 2019, is set to cost about $7 million in total. It represents one of the largest capital projects in the university’s history. The facility measures in at 21,500 square feet and will house three skills labs, an anatomy education center, student study spaces, and collaboration space. The DPT program will open its doors to its first class in fall 2022; it has already begun accepting applications, and the first class is likely to contain 40 to 50 students.

“Kosair Charities’ history and mission has long been interwoven into the fabric of Spalding university, with our first grant in 1996. We are thrilled to announce a grant totally $2 million to support the newly named Kosair Charities School of Physical Therapy and Center for Interprofessional Education at Spalding University,” said Kosair Charities President Keith Inman. “A portion of these funds will allow the creation of Kentucky’s first residency and fellowship programs in pediatric physical therapies. Kosair Charities is proud to be a part of this milestone moment for our state and community.”

The new facility will also house the university’s Center for Interprofessional Education, which unites a myriad of health and science disciplines—including occupational therapy, mental health services, and social work—to collaborate underneath one roof.

“There are expected to be about 47,000 new jobs in the United States over the next 10 years in physical therapy, and there is a critical need for pediatric therapists in the commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Spalding President Tori Murden McClure. “So there is no doubt that this new pediatric physical therapy program is meeting the needs of the times.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Indiana University Launches Capital Campus in D.C.

    Indiana University recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new IU Capital Campus in Washington, D.C., according to university news. The eight-story facility will provide a central hub for the university’s existing programs and business operations based in D.C., uniting them under one roof and providing the opportunity to expand.

  • Classical building columns display digital data streams

    The Campus Nervous System: Why Facilities Risk Is Now a Leadership Issue in Higher Education

    Facility performance now intersects with safety, compliance, on-campus experience, institutional reputation, and financial resilience. That places it firmly on the leadership agenda.

  • California High School Opens New Classroom Building for 7th-, 8th-Graders

    Santa Rosa City Schools in Santa Rosa, Calif., recently announced the completion of a new classroom building for Piner High School. As the campus transitions to a Junior/Senior High School, the facility will play home to the school’s new population of seventh- and eighth-grade students.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.