August 16, 2018
West Chester University Starts Construction on The Sciences & Engineering Center and The Commons
This summer, West Chester University began construction on its largest academic and service building — The Sciences & Engineering Center and The Commons. The innovative 175,000 square-foot facility is designed to provide a dynamic living-learning environment for the next generation of engineers, nurses, nutritionists, physicists, public health professionals, scientists, and other critical-demand positions.
Facility features include advanced laboratories, modern academic program space, state-of-the-art simulation, as well as dedicated dining and conference services. The building is destined to transform the way WCU students think, work, and prepare for high-performance careers, while redefining the University’s landscape for all.
More about the Building
At a time when the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects a 23 percent growth in the number of biomedical jobs needed by 2024, the building provides the perfect setting to launch the University’s first engineering major — biomedical engineering. By applying biology and science methodologies with engineering principals, students will be able to develop equipment, such as prosthetics, artificial organs, and imaging devices, as well as procedures that will ultimately help lessen a number of health problems found in populations around the globe.
Housed on the first floor, the Biomedical Engineering Center will complement the nearby Immersive Learning Center where students training for careers in nursing and other health-care related fields will have the unique opportunity to master critical response training in a real-world hospital setting. The dynamic environment will feature technologically-advanced simulated patients or human-like robots that, with the touch of the instructor’s computer controls, experience cardiac arrest and a variety of other lifelike symptoms.
Students studying athletic training, psychology, social work, speech language pathology, and other disciplines will also be able to take advantage of simulated settings. Rooms will be designed to mimic patient exam rooms and home-care environments to allow students to become fully prepared to provide excellent care in a variety of professional surroundings. A modern nutrition lab will ensure that wellness and disease prevention are incorporated.
The Commons
WCU’s steady enrollment growth creates the need for improved and larger dining services, as well as expanded meeting space. The Commons wing will be a welcoming and modern environment for students to connect, eat, and work. In addition to the main dining hall, the Commons wing will include a ballroom, auditorium, and meeting rooms — facilities that are currently severely limited on campus. These additional spaces will allow faculty, students, and staff to host conferences, collaborative community events, and speaker presentations.