BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The IWU School of Nursing and Health Sciences (SoNHS) has won a $1 million grant from the federal government for the Nursing and Health Sciences Innovation Program. The program will support student success by renovating Stevenson Hall and bringing updated technology to classrooms and laboratories.
The planned renovations will provide greater quality of life for the nursing students who call Stevenson Hall home, with new furniture, new bathroom and kitchen facilities and a remodeled layout on the second floor to provide more open and collaborative faculty and student learning spaces.
“Shanks Lounge (on the second floor of Stevenson Hall), looks just like it did when I was a student here in the 90s and probably the same as it did in the late 60s,” said Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences Amber Kujath ‘97. “We really want to use it more for collaborative learning between students and faculty and as a study space for students.”
Classroom technology upgrades will include wall-mounted TV screens to replace ceiling-mounted projectors, and Stevenson’s collection of high-fidelity, cutting-edge patient simulation manikins will be updated with new models, each of which can cost nearly $100,000.
The grant, provided by the federal Department of Education, was secured with the help of Illinois Senator Dick Durbin.
“Durbin is a big supporter of the nursing profession,” Kujath said. “He has been really good to nursing by securing funds for institutions in up-state and down-state Illinois.”
The Nursing and Health Sciences Innovation Program is in the process of prioritizing which technology will best support the nursing labs. Planning for the student success programs and renovations to Stevenson Hall will be underway this summer.