Groundbreaking will take place 11 a.m., Friday, October 7, 2005, on Jefferson’s Scott Plaza, located on Locust Street between 10th and 11th streets, Philadelphia

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EVENT:
Thomas Jefferson University will break ground for construction of the new Dorrance H. Hamilton Building, the first major structure planned at Jefferson in 15 years. The facility will be one of the nation’s first centers for interdisciplinary health instruction. 

The Hamilton Building is part of a new $60 million educational complex at Jefferson that includes a campus green and will be the “new heart of the campus,” setting the standard for Jefferson’s educational vision and for its interaction with the surrounding community.

Hundreds of Jefferson Medical College alumni-- along with faculty, students and staff-- will be present when Jefferson medical and nursing students and Jefferson academic leaders turn over the first shovelful of soil to kick off the medical school’s annual Alumni Reunion Weekend.

Construction will begin in November.

Following the groundbreaking ceremony, an outdoor BBQ luncheon will be held for the Jefferson community.

“Future generations of Jefferson medical, nursing, physical therapy and occupational therapy students will benefit from an education center with an interdisciplinary learning environment and the most sophisticated educational tools in clinical care available to them,” said Robert L. Barchi, M.D., Ph.D., President, Thomas Jefferson University.

“I am pleased that so many Jefferson graduates will be here to participate in this next stage of Jefferson’s development.”

The Dorrance H. Hamilton Building will house the Dr. Robert and Dorothy Rector Clinical Skills Center, the focus for innovative medical education. The two-floor training operation, featuring virtual diagnostic and surgical suites, will be a vast expansion of Jefferson’s current clinical skills center.

The six-story, state-of-the-art academic building will also contain a technologically-advanced auditorium and small and large group classrooms.

DATE:  Friday, October 7, 2005

TIME:  11 a. m.

LOCATION:
Scott Plaza
Thomas Jefferson University
Locust Street between 10th and 11th streets, Philadelphia

SPEAKERS:
Robert L. Barchi, M.D., Ph.D., President
Thomas Jefferson University

Thomas J. Nasca, M.D., FACP
Dean, Jefferson Medical College
Senior Vice President, Thomas Jefferson University

ADITIONAL CEREMONY PARTICIPANTS:
Dorrance H. “Dodo” Hamilton

Brian G. Harrison
Chair, Thomas Jefferson University Board of Trustees

James B. Erdmann, Ph.D.
Dean, Jefferson College of Health Professions

James H. Keen, Ph.D.
Dean, Jefferson College of Graduate Studies
Vice President for International Affairs, Jefferson

BACKGROUND:
The new educational complex will include a 60,000 square-foot plaza, a 129,000 square-foot medical education building and a 215-space underground garage, replacing a parking garage and concrete square on the north side of Locust Street between 10th and 11th streets. Construction on the southern half of Jefferson’s 14-acre campus will begin in November and is anticipated to be completed in two years.    

The building was designed by the architectural firm Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates of Philadelphia.  Landscape design is by the Philadelphia firm of Andropogon Associates.

Last spring, Dorrance H. “Dodo”  Hamilton donated a landmark gift of $25 million to allow Thomas Jefferson University to literally transform its campus with the construction of a campus green and medical education building-- the Dorrance H. Hamilton Building. Mrs. Hamilton’s gift, the largest donation ever made to Jefferson, will help Jefferson to define the future of clinical care.

The Rector Clinical Skills Center is being made possible with the aid of a $10 million bequest from the estate of Jefferson Medical College alumnus the late Dr. Robert (Class of 1948) and Dorothy Rector of Chambersburg, Pa.

Thomas Jefferson University is composed of three schools--Jefferson Medical College, the Jefferson College of Graduate Studies and the Jefferson College of Health Professions. The three colleges enroll more than 2,400 future physicians, scientists and health-care professionals.