RIC holding grand opening for new nursing wing

RHODE ISLAND College will hold a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for its new School of Nursing wing at the John E. Fogarty Life Science Building on Oct. 7. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE
RHODE ISLAND College will hold a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for its new School of Nursing wing at the John E. Fogarty Life Science Building on Oct. 7. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island College will hold a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for its new School of Nursing wing at the John E. Fogarty Life Science Building on Oct. 7.

Funded by a $50 million bond approved in 2012, the $6.3 million project represents the completion of a 9,190-square-foot addition to the Fogarty Life Science Building as well as soon-to-be-completed renovations to Craig-Lee Hall and Gaige Hall.

The new wing is home to offices for the School of Nursing dean, undergraduate department chair, program directors, administrative staff and the simulation coordinator/educator.

RIC boasts the largest baccalaureate nursing program in the state. Prior to the construction of the new wing, it could not house its growing number of students and faculty, explained Jane Williams, dean of the School of Nursing.

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“We were well below the guidelines for square footage per student in our classroom, laboratory, office and student gathering space, and we needed a distinctive building for our school as well as an updated simulation area,” she said.

The inclusion of simulation technology in the nursing program, said President Frank D. Sánchez, which features a human patient simulator lab, where life-like, anatomically correct, computer-driven mannequins with physiologic responses mimic real patients, has helped RIC emphasize its “learning innovation” theme.

He said: “This facility demonstrates what our college is capable of when you combine one of the nation’s best nursing programs, top notch faculty and the collective investment made by Rhode Islanders.”

The school’s R.N. to B.S.N. program ranked the best in New England and among the top 10 of 700 programs measured from across the nation by education advocate website RNtoBSN.org.

The event on Friday will begin at 1 p.m.

Gov. M. Gina Raimondo, House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello, Rep. David N. Cicilline, Chair of the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education William Foulkes, R.I. Commissioner of Postsecondary Education Jim Purcell and Chair of the R.I. Board of Education Barbara Cottam are expected to attend.

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