A current lack of funds is delaying the groundbreaking of a new facility intended to unite the School of Nursing into one building. As administrators continue to locate and secure funds, the date of completion for the $16.8 million structure remains unclear.
"Right now, there is not a single big benefactor that would launch [the plans for the new facility] into the groundbreaking phase," said Steven Rum, vice chancellor of development and alumni affairs at Duke University Medical Center.
Eileen Welch, associate dean of external affairs for the School of Nursing, added that officials are still actively searching for the namesake of the future building, which would require a lead gift upwards of $10 million.
Currently, the nursing school has facilities in locations spread out as far as Ninth Street to the basement of the Baker House in Duke South. The new facility will bring the school together from five sites around the Duke campus into the new building, which would hold nursing education programs and research.
"Part of the reason for this facility is so that there can be synergy between all of the faculty and students," Welch said. "With everyone together, it will allow us to share ideas in an unstructured fashion."
Duke's nursing school, ranked 29th in the U.S. News and World Report 2004 rankings, has struggled to improve due to limited space.
"I think the thing is that as spread out as we are now, we operate in a little less than 20,000 square feet," said Dean of the School of Nursing Mary Champagne. "We currently don't have the room we need to accommodate our current work and the future growth and leadership of the school."
The plans for the new building, which were approved last year by the Board or Trustees, calls for two phases. In an internal document defending the proposal, phase one is designed to create a temporary fix for the current lack of space while phase two offers the best long-term solution.
Phase one involves the creation of a 56,000 square foot structure located on Bell Service Drive facing Duke South. It will also involve the renovation of the School's current Trent Drive building.
Phase two will then demolish the previously renovated Trent Drive building and replace it with an additional 15,500 square foot, $7.2 million wing connected to the phase one building.
"The location of the building nicely unites the two fields of medicine," Champagne said, referring to the nursing program and DUMC. "Without the building, we will have a great deal of difficulty growing the school."
Despite the nursing shortage around the United States, the school has grown in the last 12 years from 57 to the current 378 students. Adding a baccalaureate program in 2002 and with a doctoral program in the pipes, the School of Nursing continues to expand. Champagne hopes that the new building will ultimately secure the school's further success in the coming years.
"The key will be the future," said Champagne, who looks forward to the potential new building. "Everyone is dying for this to happen."
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