News

October 2008

Villanova Dedicates Driscoll Hall, New Home to the College of Nursing

Villanova, P.A. – On Monday, Oct. 6, students, faculty, alumni and guests gathered to dedicate Villanova’s new Driscoll Hall and mark the University’s commitment to nursing education as part of its institutional and social mission.  At 75,500 square feet, the new College of Nursing building features a technology-rich, forward-thinking design.

Located prominently on Villanova’s main campus, the $32 million Driscoll Hall showcases the latest in environmentally-friendly design and state-of-the-art teaching spaces. It boasts a 200-seat auditorium and 200-seat lecture hall, as well as classrooms and seminar rooms, faculty, staff and student organization offices; a café and courtyard; and space for prayer and reflection.

Driscoll Hall features three standardized patient labs and ten student learning labs using clinical simulation for health assessment, adult health, maternal/child health, anesthesia and critical care. Villanova nursing students work with student actors who model patient symptoms, behaviors, attitudes and questions to assess a patient’s mental and physical well-being, recognize signs and symptoms and make critical judgments. Students also use an array of human patient simulators that can speak and have heartbeats, pulses, chest movements and can even give birth. Driscoll Hall allows students to work in rooms that not only have the latest hospital and critical care equipment, but also feature digital recording devices for evaluation and feedback.

The new facility was designed by Richter Cornbrooks Gribble. Torcon provided preconstruction phase CM services throughout the entire design process, continuing as Construction Manager throughout the remainder of the project. The facility is a LEED registered and anticipates receiving its LEED Silver certification later this year.