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Kyle Meyer, Ph.D., associate dean for the School of Allied Health Professions, in the updated Bennett Hall. The third-oldest building on campus, Bennett Hall is the SAHP’s new home. |
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The image on the left shows what a Bennett Hall hallway looked like before the renovation — the image on the right shows a newly-renovated version. |
After years of being scattered across campus, the SAHP — composed of 53 faculty and 16 staff — have boxed their belongings and moved into the newly renovated Bennett Hall.
Each of the school’s 10 divisions, as well as its distance education department, are now permanently housed in the restored building on the northwest corner of 42nd and Emile streets.
Completed in 1919, Bennett Hall is the third oldest building on the UNMC campus after Poynter Hall and the hospital. Now, newly transformed, allied health faculty members are basking in the $8.9 million renovation funded through LB605, the 2006 legislative bill that provided state funds to upgrade buildings on all four campuses of the University of Nebraska system.
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Originally constructed when Woodrow Wilson was president, Bennett Hall — or South Laboratory Building as it was originally known — has seven levels and contains 64,494 gross square feet of space. An addition was made to the building in 1947 with a major renovation in 1962.
This past year’s renovation of about 46,000 square feet of interior space provides an additional 25,000 net square feet of updated space. The SAHP will be housed on Levels 3 through 6 with the administrative offices on the fifth floor.
Also occupying the building will be the department of anesthesiology administrative and faculty offices, which will remain on Level 2, and the Counseling and Student Development Center, which will move from the Student Life Center to Level 6.
“The architectural and construction teams of Alley Poyner Macchietto and Boyd Jones, and our UNMC Facilities Management and Planning department, exceeded our expectations in this renovation,” Dr. Meyer said. “They have created a welcoming environment for faculty and staff, current and prospective students and alumni, all in keeping with the period of the original building architecture.”
Visitors to the building have raved about the natural light that spills through oversized windows and into the corridors with dark crown moldings and granite floors. High ceilings, wall sconces, opaque glass on office doors, a restored stairway and Earth tones further compliment the building’s early history.
Although Bennett Hall is not on the historic registry, historic preservation was the goal from the beginning, said Construction Project Manager Nick Knopik of Facilities Management and Planning.
“The biggest challenge was the building’s structure and trying to fit modern conveniences and mechanical systems in a 90-year-old building,” he said.
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“Sixty percent of the health care workforce is made up of allied heath care workers,” Dr. Meyer said. “One of the major advantages of an education at UNMC is the opportunity for students from different health care professions to interact with one another. The Bennett Hall renovation and the consolidation of the SAHP will greatly facilitate this opportunity.”
The consolidation provides for greater efficiencies and interprofessional course work, Dr. Meyer said. It also physically connects the SAHP with the College of Medicine, which is housed directly east of Bennett Hall in the new Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education.
“The SAHP is delighted to physically join the ‘educational corridor’ with our colleagues from medicine, pharmacy and nursing,” Dr. Meyer said. “The building is wonderful and we appreciate all who have worked to make Bennett Hall not only the new, but the first home, of the School of Allied Health Professions.”