IU construction plans underway near ND
Scott Brodfuehrer
News Writer
Indiana University is finalizing plans for a building on the corner of Angela Ave. and Notre Dame Ave. that will house its South Bend Center for Medical Education and Notre Dame's Walther Cancer Research Center. The Center for Medical Education is currently located in the basement of Haggar Hall,
"It will be an IU building on IU property. IU is responsible for its construction, but Notre Dame will have a long term lease that lets us review the building's final design," University Vice President and Associate Provost Jeffrey Kantor said.
The South Bend Center for Medical Education is a branch of the Indiana University School of Medicine and one of eight satellite centers in its medical school. The center has 32 first and second year medical students who are registered as Notre Dame graduate students and enjoy the same benefits as all Notre Dame students, such as tickets to football games, access to campus housing and campus grade reports. The students complete their education at Indiana's main campus at Bloomington.
The Walther Cancer Research Center is a collaboration of the Walther Cancer Institute and the College of Science and studies the treatment and prevention of cancer.
"It is a pre-clinical, fundamental medical research facility —there are no patients," said Kantor.
The space for the new center is built on the same property Northern Indiana State Hospital occupied. The state-owned facility was closed in 1999 and IU worked in cooperation with Notre Dame to obtain the property from the state. The hospital has been destroyed and planning for the new facility, set to open in 2003, is almost completed.
"We are still designing the interior, and have about three more meetings left before construction can begin," said Dr. John O'Malley, director of the South Bend Center for Medical Education.
The new building will greatly increase the center's space and makes it a possibility that the center's enrollment may eventually increase above the current 32 students.
"It will at least triple the amount of space we have and its conceivable that the number of students could increase," said O'Malley.
Kantor said that when the center moves from its current location in the basement of Haggar Hall, that space will be assigned to the psychology department, where the space is "badly needed."
All News Stories for Tuesday, March 27, 2001
