Rutgers Dedicates New Nursing Building in New Brunswick

Three-story, 18,000-square-foot facility offers modern classrooms and labs for teaching, research

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The College of Nursing at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, today dedicated a new 18,000-square-foot building to better serve its 250 undergraduate students enrolled at the New Brunswick Campus.

The three-story building in downtown New Brunswick provides modern classrooms, faculty offices, a lecture hall, an expanded clinical learning laboratory and examination rooms. It replaces two older facilities on the university’s College Avenue Campus, and features technologically advanced practice laboratories that will better prepare nursing students for careers in hospitals, nursing homes, home care and community health care settings.

"With this facility, our nursing offerings in New Brunswick are now on a par with what we offer at the College’s headquarters on the Rutgers-Newark Campus,” said Lucille Joel, interim dean of the College of Nursing. “The fully equipped practice labs with computerized simulators will make it easier for New Brunswick students to perfect the skills they need to pursue practicum courses at clinical sites around the state.”

Together at Newark and New Brunswick, the College serves 650 undergraduate students, 250 master’s-level students and more than 50 doctoral students.

"The College of Nursing exemplifies Rutgers’ role of teaching, research and service, preparing highly skilled nurses to help meet the state’s and country’s burgeoning demand for high-quality, affordable health care,” said Richard L. McCormick, president of Rutgers University. “Through research and clinical partnerships with New Jersey health care providers and institutions, we deliver innovative programs that meet evolving health care needs with a focus on wellness.”

The Rutgers College of Nursing is an international leader in nursing practice and research. It was the first program in New Jersey to offer the Ph.D. practice degree in nursing research in 1989. This year, it will award its first professional doctorate, the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. Faculty and students participate in many federally funded research programs aimed at promoting healthy living among the state’s diverse population.

The new building at 110 Paterson St. shares a site with another building now under construction that will house the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. Both are on land owned by the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and leased to Rutgers.

Along with Rutgers President McCormick and College of Nursing Interim Dean Joel, participants in the dedication ceremony included James M. Cahill, mayor of New Brunswick; Steven J. Diner, chancellor of Rutgers University in Newark; and Stephen K. Jones, president and chief executive officer of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

Media Contact: Carl Blesch
732-932-7084 x616
E-mail: cblesch@ur.rutgers.edu