The Recreation, Fitness and Wellness Center and the Health Professions Center are undergoing construction projects.
The RFWC’s construction project is part of a $17 million renovation project including the Health Professions Center announced August 2022. The construction will result in Counseling and Psychological Services, Public Safety, Religious Life, University Strategic Communications and the University Health Center consolidating into the RFWC.
Jim Wolfe, director of Facility Operations and Planning, is overseeing the construction and renovation project for the RFWC. Wolfe said the construction project is expected to be completed by late July.
He said the project began before the COVID-19 pandemic and has moved slowly since.
“Due to materials arriving late, we had a three-month delay on the steel right at the beginning of the project,” Wolfe said.
According to Wolfe, the RFWC main floor will have a front desk and a lounge with seating and monitors. The Public Safety area will have a front desk, offices, storage room, locker room, shower room and a large conference room for training.
The third floor will be the University Health Center.
He said there are about eight exam rooms. It is more than what they had, and they are larger.
“We’re hoping to start moving the furniture in the middle of May, and then we’re going to start moving the health center over probably early June,” Wolfe said.
University Strategic Communications and CAPS will also be on the third floor of the RFWC.
It’s awesome that major resources such as CAPS and the health services will be together.”
— Jennah Hottel, senior studio art major
Wolfe said in the Health Professions Center, the USI Dental Clinic is done with renovations and being used, however, everything else is still under construction.
The area currently housing the University Health Center within the Health Professions Center began renovations Summer 2023. The renovation is aimed at expanding the capacity and upgrading the equipment for the dental program. A budget of $5 million was allocated for acquiring new equipment, including an expansion of 18 dental chairs.
Wolfe said all equipment in the USI Dental Clinic is new and highly advanced. He said the renovations for the USI Dental Clinic began May 2023.
“We wanted the dental area to be done for use in the fall, so they had to hurry up and get that done, but they didn’t get started till May,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe said demolition began Summer 2023, and he hopes to have it done by Summer 2024.
Renovations include classroom space and new equipment.
“We actually have CT scanners, digital radiology, MRI simulations, so a lot of the equipment, they only had one X-ray machine upstairs and a couple of portables,” Wolfe said. “Now they actually have six labs that all have up-to-date equipment.”
On the lower floor of the Health Professions Center, nursing and food and nutrition will have classrooms.
Nursing will have a clinical simulation center with four simulation rooms that will look like a hospital room with a patient bed and mannequin.
“They have a computer that controls what this mannequin might do, it’s electronic,” Wolfe said. “It actually gives readings, they may tell you something’s wrong with them.”
He said they will be adding more classrooms than they had before and will be larger due to the number of nursing students growing by 50%.
“We used to have 120 nursing students per class,” Wolfe said, “And now they’re gonna have 180.”
Wolfe also said they will have anatomy labs for nursing students.
“We put an anatomy lab over here because all the nurses have to take anatomy,” Wolfe said. “And because we are adding 60 more students to each of the classes, they had to have more space to teach anatomy.”
Food and nutrition will have a classroom area and station area for students as well.
“A station will be like a bar, will have a stove, microwave, dishwasher, all the utensils you can use to make food mixers and maybe six of those for each of them to have and learn to cook things and everything,” Wolfe said.
He said it is a big upgrade from what the food and nutrition had before.
Jennah Hottel, senior studio art major, said the relocation of the University Health Center, CAPS and Public Safety will make it easier for students to find these resources in one building.
“It’s awesome that major resources such as CAPS and the health services will be together,” Hottel said. “It makes a lot of sense and will make all of the resources for healthy living easier to find.”
Ryan VanBuskirk, senior political science and German double major, said it is “crazy” the renovation project has been ongoing since he started USI in 2020.
“I like the relocations,” VanBuskirk said. “I think Public Safety’s location is pretty confusing and poorly placed at the moment, so having it be in a more centralized and accessible location is good.”
