School of Nursing to get space expansion

Some much needed space is on the treatment plan for the Washburn School of Nursing.
Whiting Field House, which is attached to Petro Allied Health Center, will add more offices for faculty, as well as a new state of the art simulation laboratory.
"Our nursing office isn't very big and there are offices all over campus," said Kirstin Harding, a junior in her second semester of nursing school. "I think it’s mostly going to benefit our faculty because they’ll have a lot more offices. I think there are a lot of new faculty who don't have offices at all. They're pretty crammed in there."
The new space for offices and classrooms has been funded by grants and donations.
The Whiting Field House renovations are also benefitting the Physical Education department and student athletes, as it will feature new strength and conditioning facilities.
Mary Allen, the Director of Students Services for the School of Nursing said that the new space had a tentative opening planned for the fall semester of 2009. She said the school will be receiving new furniture for the offices and rounding up faculty from offices located all over campus.
"We have been scrambling for space," said Allen.
Harding said she hopes eventually the school will have its own building.
"Our classes are so big, sometimes we have to move to Henderson [Learning Center]," Harding said. "It's not a big deal to walk across campus, but it would be nice for future students and recruitment to have a designated building just for the School of Nursing.
As a senior next year, Harding will benefit from the new simulation lab, in which student practice on dummies which simulate health problems like high blood pressure or seizures.
"It will be nice to practice in completely new facilities," Harding said. “It’s going to be a higher level simulator.”