Intermountain Press Release

Salt Lake City —Lake Community College officials announced today that Intermountain Healthcare will donate $3 million to complete construction on a new Health Sciences Center being built at SLCC's Jordan Campus. The new facility is critical to ensuring that Utah continues to have highly qualified medical professionals to serve the needs of future patients.

"We are excited to be part of the new Health Sciences Center," said Nancy Nowak, Intermountain's vice president of clinical operations and chief nursing officer. "This donation will support the learning labs and clinics in the new facility. And we look forward to future collaboration with their nursing program, as well as their other educational programs for medical technicians and medical assistants. Efforts such as these are assuring that Utah has the healthcare professionals we need, now and in the future, to provide care in communities across the state."

For several years, SLCC has partnered with Intermountain Healthcare. The partnership has allowed the College to increase the number of nursing students, provide a nursing training for Intermountain employees, and offer a part time nursing program for students who need to work and care for family members while still in school.

SLCC President Dr. Cynthia A. Bioteau said the College deeply values its partnership with Intermountain Healthcare and is extremely grateful for this generous donation towards the Health Sciences Center. "Intermountain Healthcare continues to share our vision and commitment to improving quality healthcare and providing educational experiences for future healthcare providers in our community. The Health Sciences Center will help us achieve these goals."

The new Health Sciences Center will bring cutting-edge technology to SLCC teachers and students, said Dr. Marlene Bacon, Dean of the School of Health Sciences. "The newly integrated teaching facility consolidates the College's health science offerings into a single location where students and faculty from various disciplines can benefit from contact with one another."

The College broke ground on the new learning facility in October 2005. The building will be completed for classes in the fall semester of 2007. The Center will offer 28 medical and general science labs, 15 classrooms, five computer labs, four assessment and testing rooms, a 500-seat auditorium and an 80-seat tiered classroom. Classrooms and labs for the health science programs are currently spread over six locations throughout Salt Lake Valley, creating duplication of space and efforts.

"An increase in teaching space will allow a 60 percent increase in the number of students admitted to the allied health disciplines and the nursing program's enrollment capacity will nearly double," said Bacon. "Having everyone located in the same place will allow us to better focus on our students' needs, and to move our programs forward as we work together."

Functions used by multiple programs include: sterile prep areas, adjunct faculty offices, professional consultation rooms, conference rooms, computer labs, the community healthcare clinic, and locker/shower/changing rooms. Consolidating these functions will introduce health science students to the multi-disciplinary environment common to most health care settings.

Salt Lake Community College is an accredited, student-focused urban college serving the diverse needs of the Salt Lake community. The College serves some 60,000 students each year through credit and non-credit courses and workshops, making it the largest institution of higher education in Utah. To accommodate student needs, SLCC has 15 sites located throughout the Salt Lake Valley. Courses are offered in both traditional and accelerated semesters, during the day, at night and on weekends. Students receive personal attention from faculty as the College maintains a student-to-faculty ratio of less than 20-1.