Faculty and staff in the Division of Health Sciences spent their summer term immersed in an unlikely set of coursework: architecture and engineering.
The division is carefully developing a space allocation plan to accommodate current programs and projected growth. As part of that process, the deans of the schools of Allied Health, Nursing, and Public Health engaged a consultant with expertise in public health and research lab design as well as in medical master planning.
University budgets generally do not fund projects that fall outside traditional academic or research scope. The deans of the three schools partnered with the division's community advisory board and pooled money from its Dean's Associates and annual giving sources to fund the much-needed project.
Unrestricted funds, donated by alumni and industry members with no specific earmark, allowed the deans to carry out the project quickly in response to the space concerns. Currently, 2,200 students, together with nearly 100 full- and parttime faculty and staff, occupy the Rod Lee Bigelow Health Sciences Building, but classrooms and laboratories are also spread out in seven other buildings on UNLV's main campus. The project achieved three goals:
- Cataloging
existing areas and detailing their usage.
- Assessing
how much space will be needed to function more efficiently with expected
program growth.
- Recommending development for lab, instructional, and program space that should be located next to each other.
Overall, the division hopes to gain flexibility through its detailed space planning.
