Several state senators on Monday toured some of UNMC’s oldest buildings, in advance of next session’s debate on a bill that would allocate money to renovate them for research and other uses.
“Renovating these buildings is essential if we want to continue on our path toward becoming a world-class academic health sciences center,” UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said. “To recruit the quality of physician-scientists that this state deserves, this space needs to have 21st-century-type capabilities.”
LB 605, a bill carried over from the 2005 Legislative session, would commit $137.5 million in state funds to restore buildings on the four University of Nebraska campuses. At UNMC, those buildings include all or parts of four buildings: the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases building, Poynter Hall, Wittson Hall and Bennett Hall.
The project would provide for the consolidation of Allied Health programs in Bennett Hall, and it would renovate space for patient-based research in Poynter Hall. Significant renovations would allow for research growth in the Eppley Institute, and a mechanical system upgrade is necessary in Wittson Hall.
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University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken, left, listens to UNMC College of Medicine Dean John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., describe the lab conditions in Poynter Hall. |
The group, along with officials from UNMC and University of Nebraska central administration, visited a classroom and research laboratory in the Durham Research Center to gain perspective of modern teaching and scientific discovery environments. On the tour of the older buildings, they heard presentations from Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Eppley Cancer Center; John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the College of Medicine; and Mary Haven, associate dean for the School of Allied Health Professions.