Trinity faculty and staff had a great holiday treat today when the Clark Construction team stopped work for one hour so that everybody could get an “inside preview” of the new academic center.  Joy for all!  Everyone was in awe of the spaciousness, great layout and wonderful touches like the mosaic of the Trinity seal set into the terrazzo floor of the lobby (covered up during construction, but a glimpse uncovered today for all to see).

The seal took many months, days and hours of artisans creating the brass framework and preparing the color chips that are an exact match to the historic Trinity seal described in Sister Columba’s great history of Trinity.  The seal is in the center of the “rotunda” defined by the four support columns in the middle of the lobby:

 The rotunda will quickly become the signature gathering spot in the new academic center.  The lobby and lounge areas are spacious:

Comfortable furniture in Trinity purple tones will give this lobby area a gracious and welcome feel.  On each side of the lobby lounge, there are 24-seat classrooms with glass panels looking out into the lobby:

The Admissions and Enrollment Services Team gathered for a photo at the great seal:

Behind the Enrollment team, above, are glass walls that define the entrance into two tiered classrooms that will eventually have three tiers with 72 seats each — the largest instructional spaces Trinity has ever had!  This is the shell of one of the current tiered classrooms; note the beautiful arched windows:

Moving upstairs, the Nursing and other health professions faculty were delighted to see the progress on the “Sim Lab” that will be a remarkable state-of-the-art teaching and learning space:

Each of the glass-enclosed rooms will contain a simulation manikin — Sim Man — that is a fully computerized life-like robot used for Nursing and healthcare education.  A teacher/computer operator operates the Sim Man from a control room  with computers and cameras on the other side of the glass booth.  The operator can direct the robot to have reactions and conditions that the student nurses must respond to as if dealing with a real patient.  The glass enables students sitting in the seminar room to watch the lesson.  Trinity has acquired one Sim Man (actually, a Sim Woman for birthing simulations) thanks to a wonderful grant from Care First.  This technology is expensive — to acquire a second manikin and related technology Trinity is seeking an additional $150,000 gift or grant.  Funding the entire simulation lab will run to $500,000 in total, but this is the kind of instructional environment that will serve Trinity, Nursing and healthcare education well for generations to come.

On either side of the Sim Lab are the Nursing Skills labs:

The wall panels in the photo above are all of the connections for hospital headboards that will go with the beds in the skills labs — 8 beds in each lab for a total of 16 beds for nursing practice.  Here again, the technological needs are great, since each bed is set up as in a regular hospital. Trinity continues to seek gifts and grants to fund the equipment, to purchase some specialized tools and technologies, and to ensure ongoing upgrades to the labs.

An excellent feature of the new building is the strategic use of glass panels on the corners of classrooms on each floor near the elevator and main gathering areas.  On each floor, whether students walk up the central steps (behind the photographer so not seen in the photo below) or use the elevator (where the crew member is standing below), they will come to a central area with comfortable lounge chairs while they wait to enter classrooms (on the right side of the corridor extending the length of the building), laboratories (arrayed along the left side) or faculty offices.

The third and fourth floors have laboratories for Anatomy & Physiology, Biology, General Sciences, Chemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology.  Each laboratory is fitted out with the pipes, vents, electrical and other infrastructure pertinent to the needs of the sciences. Here are future chemistry labs being built-out:

On the second, third and fourth floors along the entire side of the building facing Main Hall are classrooms sized for 24-36-48 students; all disciplines will use these classrooms so the building is truly for all students, all degree programs, all levels.  The interdisciplinary character of the building, bringing sciences and social sciences and arts and humanities and professional education together, will enhance faculty and student creative collaboration and instructional opportunities across disciplines.  For example, Psychology and Counseling classes might occur next to the Nursing labs, providing more opportunities for faculty and students to dialogue across disciplines.  Some views of the classroom spaces:

This team from Alumnae Affairs and Student Services is thrilled with the new student gathering spaces:

The nurses and health care professionals who run the Health and Wellness Center gave their stamp of approval to the new teaching labs:

Chief Nursing Officer Dr. Denise Pope (left) and Dean Mary Romanello urged Admissions team members Derrick Davis and Russell Washington to bring prospective nursing students over to see the new labs!

So Admissions staff spent time practicing how they will welcome new students to the new academic center:

We are so very grateful to the Clark Construction team — Mike, CC, Max, Cody and all others — who are bringing Trinity’s long-desired plans into reality!

And though today was rainy, we are still very grateful to the men up on the roof… Red Roof Rules! (photo two days ago, not in the rain!)