October 6, 2009
ATHENS, Ga.-- Two years, 93,000 square-feet and $44 million later, the University of Georgia has a brand new pharmacy building, filled with brilliant technology and a lot of excited pharmacy students.
In November of 2007 UGA broke ground to begin building Pharmacy South, located on Green Street in South Campus, which came as a much needed addition to the outdated Robert C. Wilson Pharmacy that has been used since 1964.
Pharmacy South is attached to the R.C. Wilson building by a glass enclosed bridge on the second floor. The Wilson building will still be used for lecture for first-year pharmacy students, but the majority of the classes and labs will be held in Pharmacy South.
"It’s just a wonderful, wonderful addition,” said George Francisco, associate dean of the College of Pharmacy.
“Basically we had three years of students and classes that we had to work into two rooms, and it just made everything crazy. Classes were all day and we were trying to sandwich labs in the middle." Francisco said. "This [new addition] gives us some time to spread out the students so they have a more structured learning environment."
Pharmacy South is almost double the size of Pharmacy North and is home to two 194-seat auditoriums, three 30-seat classrooms, seminar rooms, discussion rooms, two large open research labs and an executive conference room.
"It allows the college to go from teaching classes of 120 students to classes of 200 students," said campus architect Danny Sniff. "It allows the College to meet the demands of educating new pharmacy students.”
In addition to the large amount of classroom space, there is also a large study area complete with wireless Internet computer stations, small group seating areas and hundreds or reference books at the fingertips of each pharmacy student enrolled. Kroger donated a large portion of the money used to build the new building, so the study room was named the Kroger Learning Center.
Another technological advancement in the pharmacy building is its capability to use distance learning.
“In each classroom we have two cameras in the back and one camera in the front of the room so that students who are on different campuses can watch and participate in the same lectures in Athens, at the same time as the students here,” said Francisco.
"We'll have some classes where professors in Augusta can teach us via broadcast," said Lora Oliver, a first-year pharmacy student from Oconee.
Distance learning is only one of the many advancements the new pharmacy building has to offer. In each of the open labs, there are flat screen televisions throughout the labs to ensure students can see exactly what their professors are doing at the front of the classroom.
Each lab has at least 10 student work stations with multiple cameras watching the students work and sending live feed to a control room where professors can observe multiple students at one time and ensure their success. At these stations, students will learn how to administer IVs, compound medicines and perform other tasks that practicing pharmacists do everyday.
Pharmacy South will undoubtedly have an effect on the more than 500 students currently enrolled in the College of Pharmacy and the nearly 40 faculty and staff members, but it will also have an effect on aspiring pharmacy students all over the state of Georgia since UGA has the only public college of pharmacy.
“I am so excited to be a part of the first class to use the new pharmacy building,” said first-year pharmacy student Lea Klingenbeck.
“The building is such a great place to learn and with all of the technological advancements, like the recorded lectures and labs,” said Klingenbeck. “The faculty and staff is doing everything they can to guarantee that each student is successful.”
Pharmacy South is the only building on campus to earn the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certification - a national benchmark for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. Decisions to make the building LEED certified came primarily from students.
The new pharmacy building is considered by many students a home away from home. Since most students spend upwards of eight hours a day in the building the designers added space for each student to have a locker, showers for students who ride their bikes to class, and two student lounges for students needing a break or snack between classes.
Although the building only took two years to build, 20 years of planning went into the new Pharmacy South. With all the new state of the art equipment, it is interesting what part of the building is Francisco’s favorite.
Standing in the basement of the four story building, Francisco looks out over an empty parking lot, pushes a quarter-sized button and instantly sirens begin to sound.
“It’s only a garage door, but when you close it, it sounds exactly like Star Trek,” said Francisco.
Edited by Sarah Pelham
The Kroger Learning Center is an important part of the 93,000 square-foot
pharmacy building. The learning center has wireless Internet computer
stations, multiple study rooms and hundreds of reference books available
to the pharmacy students enjoying the new building.
Photo by Jon Kim
Amanda felt the the strength of the article is the subject matter, but she struggled a little bit with organizing all of the information she had about the building. She definitely wants to get a new third source and add in some of the details that she forgot.
ReplyDeleteAmanda and I went over a better way to organize the article, and we agreed on some additional details to add in, such as the costs and LEED certification.
Two years, 93,000 square-feet and $44 million later, the University of Georgia has a brand new pharmacy building, filled with shining technology and a lot of happy pharmacy students.
Her 4th source will be a student who has is familiar with the old building.
ReplyDelete