VCU Announces Events To Celebrate Grand Opening Of State-Of-The-Science Nursing Education Building

By Malorie Burkett and Pamela DiSalvo Lepley

The Virginia Commonwealth University is set to officially open its new, $17 million School of Nursing education building at 1100 E. Leigh St. with several events this week.

A permanent collection of more than 100 watercolor paintings donated by Baxter Perkinson, D.D.S., VCU alumnus and former rector of the VCU Board of Visitors, will be unveiled at a reception at the new school Thursday, April 26, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The collection, "106 in 2006," will be permanently displayed in the building. News Media are invited to cover the invitation-only reception.

The grand opening and dedication ceremony will take place at 3 p.m., Friday, April 27, with the cutting of a ribbon that encircles the entire building.  Prior to the ribbon cutting and building dedication ceremony, at 2 p.m., news media will be able to tour the state-of-the-science building.

The public is invited to an Open House to tour the new facility on Saturday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The four-story, 70,000 square-foot facility includes a clinical learning center with human patient simulators in critical and primary-care rooms, research laboratories, "smart" classrooms, a community outreach nursing center, faculty offices and a heritage room.

The increased space and modern classrooms and training facilities will be part of the solution to the nursing shortage and improving healthcare. The new building replaces old Cabaniss Hall, the former nursing education building on Broad Street that was built as a dormitory in 1928.

The VCU School of Nursing is one of the top-ranked nursing schools in the country for graduate programs and research.