Excitement builds during construction progress

VUSN groundbreaking participants, from left: D.F. Chase President Dennis Gregory, Hastings Architecture Associate Principal Mark Zook, Vanderbilt University Architect Keith Loiseau, School of Nursing Dean Linda Norman, Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, Vanderbilt University Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente, Vanderbilt University Board of Trust Emeritus Trustee Dennis Bottorff, and School of Nursing Alumni Board President Tiffany Street. Photo by John Russell.

Students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) participated in a groundbreaking ceremony June 20, 2017, that marked the start of construction on the nursing school’s new $26.3 million expansion. Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente, Board of Trust Trustee Emeritus Dennis Bottorff and School of Nursing Dean Linda Norman spoke at the ceremony, which was held in front of the School of Nursing’s Godchaux and Patricia Champion Frist Halls. The new structure is being built on the land where the two buildings intersect. “In the past 10 years, our student enrollment has increased by nearly 50 percent,” said Norman, who also holds the Valere Potter Menefee Chair in Nursing. “The new building will accommodate the increased number of students, faculty and staff and ensure the school continues to attract and recruit the best students and faculty.”

The building will feature a five-story atrium that will serve as the school’s new main entrance and lobby. It will connect to Frist and Godchaux, whose living room and Gothic architecture will remain untouched. The new structure will include technologically advanced classrooms, conference and seminar rooms, student services offices, faculty offices and a state-of-the-art simulation teaching lab that will allow complex skills development and real-time feedback on students’ clinical nursing skills. Construction is set to be completed in August. To see live construction updates, take a virtual tour or learn about naming opportunities, visit vu.edu/vusngrows.

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