Breaking Ground in STEM: Rhodora and John Donahue Hall
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Saint Vincent College Builds New Hall for Nursing Program
By Vayda Pascarella, Copy Editor
The Dunlap Center is not the only new building that is undergoing construction at Saint Vincent College (SVC). In April 2024, it was announced that the Rhodora and John Donahue Hall would be built to serve as the home for the Department of Nursing Program.
In mid-September, students noticed that the area surrounding Dupre Science Pavilion was blocked off, as this would be the construction site for the new nursing building.
SVC’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) said that the reason as to why the site was blocked off is so that the school could get acclimated or accommodated to the new construction that would take place.
“We’ve had minimal issues there at this point, but the heavy construction will start the last week of September or early October,” Mallory said. “Then you’re looking at about a 15-to-18-month process and total duration for construction.”
The hall will be completed around the Fall 2027 semester and will feature three floors attached to the Dupre Science Pavilion’s Tinley Hall. Architecturally, Mallory said, the hall will be a seamless fit with the architecture of Dupre.
The Rhodora and John Donahue Hall will feature FlexTech classrooms, an institute for teaching and learning on the top floor, individual study pods, areas where students can meet in small groups to study or meet with faculty. Among the three floors, there are currently projected to be five classrooms. One floor will house the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Nursing, which will feature the new skills lab, simulation, and virtual reality space.
The simulation rooms are connected to control rooms that allow faculty to create different patient scenarios that nurses can practice before going into the workforce. The skills lab will have project tables in the center where groups of students can work together with models. Additionally, there will be beds surrounding the lab, mimicking a hospital setting, so students can practice in a more realistic setting. One area will even mimic a patient’s home.
“We use mannequins, training models, and other teaching models so that students become familiar and develop a level of confidence and comfort before they would ever have to go into a real-life situation with a patient in a healthcare setting,” Professor and Chair of the Department of Nursing, Dr. Helen Burns, said.
Burns also said that the lowest level will feature a seventy-bed classroom that can be used for classes at SVC and, looking to the future, can provide continuing education classes for students and other healthcare professionals.
“Saint Vincent nurses are being educated to practice in any healthcare setting. And we want to make sure that they are ready for practice upon graduation, and that they take with them, not only the competence that they will need, but also the confidence that they’re competent and [have the] comfort to be able to move from academic settings to real world settings,” Burns said.
Burns said that the nursing program has received support from the SVC administration, board of directors, and other departments at the college.
“Because of the history of Saint Vincent with nursing, which dates back decades to when the Benedictines taught nursing students science courses, Saint Vincent has been supportive of nursing education and the nursing profession,” Burns said. “I think Saint Vincent most recently has understood that even though this country has just about five million licensed nurses, it’s not enough, and Saint Vincent has taken on a very serious approach to providing health care, not only in this region, but beyond through the development of the nursing program.”