Southern Connecticut State University recently unveiled its new, state of the art College of Health and Human Services building on its New Haven campus.
The $74 million project, more than two years in the making, was celebrated Sept. 16 in front of the sprawling, 94,750-square-foot building.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony drew a large gathering of both local and state dignitaries, including Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz, as well as students, staff and alumni.
The new four-story building was designed to meet the needs of Connecticut’s health and human services workforce. It features collaborative spaces, state-of-the-art teaching and training spaces, lecture halls, a demonstration kitchen and modern human performance laboratories.
“As you know, there are critical shortages in many areas of Connecticut’s healthcare industry, and this new building will allow us to both increase enrollment and further diversify the state’s healthcare professional workforce,” said SCSU President Joe Bertolino.
The new building will house SCSU’s School of Nursing and most departments within the college, including communication disorders; health and movement sciences; public health; recreation, tourism and sport management; and health systems and innovation. Those departments were previously housed in several different buildings around campus and are now all under one roof.
Through a partnership with Yale New Haven Health System, SCSU has committed to doubling the number of nursing students that graduate from 100 to 200 by 2026, according to university officials.
Part of the building is also open for public use. Audiology, communication disorders and human performance labs and clinics, currently used to train students and assist at-need populations in Connecticut, have also expanded in size and capabilities in the new building. The Center for Communication Disorders provides speech, language and hearing services to 150 clients (children and adults) from the community on a weekly basis, with video capture technology, eight medium and three large clinic rooms with adjoining observation areas, separate video observation space and two language and learning research labs.
“Reflecting our social justice mission as a public university, it will also serve as a wonderful resource for the off-campus community through our expanded speech therapy and hearing clinics, human performance lab and our center for adaptive sport and inclusive recreation,” Bertolino added.
Following a speaking program, those in attendance were treated to tours of the new building courtesy of College of Health and Human Services student ambassadors.
The building’s exterior was designed by Svigals + Partners, LLP, an architecture firm based in New Haven, while the interior was designed by Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, an international architecture and design firm with experience in the health sciences. Turner Construction, based in New Haven, led the construction, while Skanska USA served as construction manager.
The new building was erected next to SCSU’s oldest building, Pelz Gymnasium, built in 1953, and Fitch Street. When SCSU broke ground in March 2020, officials said the project cost was estimated at about $56 million. The nearly $20 million additional cost was due to “an addition that connects to the adjacent Pelz Gymnasium, as well as soft costs such as architectural and engineering fees,” according to Victoria Verderame, SCSU’s assistant director of media relations. The project was paid for with state bond funds.
