THE VISION AND THE GIFT
In recent visits to campus, alumna Elisabeth DeLuca ’69 (NUR) became increasingly concerned over the adequacy of the available teaching space at the School of Nursing, particularly the need for enhanced simulation capacity. DeLuca is deeply committed to addressing the state and national nursing shortage, understanding that the school could not further increase enrollments without having additional space, scholarships, and faculty and staff support. She understands that the human costs of the nursing shortage can be deadly and that adequate staffing and college-educated nurses are strongly associated with safer patient care. This inspired DeLuca to make an investment to educate more nurses and nurse educators to help combat this crisis.
DeLuca’s gift of $40 million to the School of Nursing is the largest gift in the University’s history for any purpose. The transformational gift will position the School of Nursing to be a leader in combating the nursing shortage and will provide scholarships and programmatic support for a dynamic nursing education that includes patient-centered practice, interdisciplinary research, and technology-based innovations. It will also support the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility for the School of Nursing in Storrs.
FROM BELOVED COTTAGE TO A STATE-OF-THE ART LEARNING SPACE
The facility, expected to open in 2026, will be the fourth home for the school, which initially was housed in the Home Economics Building (now the Design and Resource Management Building). The school in 1950 moved to the Widmer Building, affectionately known as “The Cottage,” and in 1969 moved to its current home, Storrs Hall. The Widmer Wing, built in 2012 and dedicated to founding dean Carolyn Ladd Widmer, provided much-needed space including a welcoming atrium featuring student gathering spaces, the Dolan Collection exhibition, the school’s current Clinical Simulation Learning Center, and a large auditorium. This expansion was made possible due to generous donations by nursing alumni and friends for which many spaces were named. The lovely auditorium was later dedicated for Margaret E. “Peggy” Sczesny ’69 (NUR) because of her generous estate gift to support the school. Now with the school’s increasing enrollment comes the demand for a larger building.
DeLuca’s gift positions UConn to lead change, as the new building will accommodate more students, allowing the school to increase enrollment further. The school’s profile continues to rise, with the number of highly qualified applicants seeking to enroll in its bachelor’s degree program increasing each year. Nearly 2,900 applications were received in 2023, an increase of more than 300 over the prior year, which was also higher than the previous years. The school’s limited enrollment capacity meant that it was able to offer admission for fall 2023 to only a portion of these applicants. Over the past five years, the school has been unable to offer admission to an estimated half of competitive applicants due to limited resources. In Storrs, the Class of 2027 includes 170 first-year nursing students. With enhanced physical space and faculty and staff support, the gift will allow the school to support a minimum of 250 students in each class over the next four years.
The scholarship support provided by DeLuca’s gift will ensure that talented students can access a UConn education and complete their nursing degrees, regardless of their economic status. Nurses who graduate from the School of Nursing will be well-equipped to provide outstanding patient care and serve as collaborative leaders who will shape the future of the nursing profession. Importantly, it will provide scholarships for master’s degree students who can then teach, providing much-needed faculty not only for UConn, but for other schools across the state.
A combination of private and public support ushers the school into the future as a cutting-edge nursing school. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly are united with UConn’s vision to address the critical nursing shortage and invest in UConn nursing. The UConn Board of Trustees in June approved the start of planning for the new building, which is supported by $30 million in bond authorizations approved in the 2023 legislative session with the support of Lamont. DeLuca’s gift provides additional funds that are critical to the project.
“The new UConn School of Nursing building is an example of what is possible when state and philanthropic support come together. I am deeply grateful to Elisabeth DeLuca for her vision and generosity in making this transformative gift, and to Gov. Ned Lamont, legislators, and the state Office of Policy and Management for their support,” UConn President Radenka Maric says. “This gift allows the UConn School of Nursing to build on its history of educating highly skilled nurses who will lead and innovate, addressing the nursing shortage while also driving impactful change in health care.”
DeLuca, who is a former nurse, has a keen understanding of the challenges nurses face and the importance of bringing innovation to the profession, according to former School of Nursing Dean Deborah Chyun. “Elisabeth DeLuca understands nursing and the critical need for well-educated nurses,” Chyun says. “Her extraordinary gift, along with the generous support provided by the University and the State of Connecticut, will enable us to educate more nurses and nursing faculty who are so urgently needed across the state and beyond.”
After graduating from UConn, DeLuca worked on a medical-surgical unit at Bridgeport Hospital, then as a nurse in the surgical intensive care unit at the West Haven Veterans Affairs hospital before joining her husband in running his business. DeLuca currently serves as president of the Elisabeth C. DeLuca Foundation and the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation. She is a longtime donor to the University, providing support that includes the DeLuca Visiting Professor for Innovation and New Knowledge Fund and the Adomat Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at the School of Nursing, as well as other substantial scholarship support to the school.
THE NEW BUILDING
Plans for the new building are already underway. “The steering committee and working groups composed of faculty and staff are meeting regularly with the architects and design team,” says UConn School of Nursing Dean Victoria Vaughan Dickson. “Our faculty and staff have expertise in focused areas such as simulation, research, and instructional space needs that is essential to planning our new building.” Dickson adds, “Other key stakeholders include our students and alumni whose voices will ensure that the building reflects the future of UConn Nursing.”
The new facility will feature flexible spaces to allow for different learning modalities and lecture halls to accommodate large gatherings. It will maximize space for student learning through simulation, skill development, lectures, and studying. In addition to 16,000 square feet for simulation instruction — currently there are only 3,000 square feet in the school’s Widmer Wing facility — plans include 1,500 square feet for makerspaces to support the new Nursing and Engineering Innovation Center (see page 8), over 5,000 square feet of research space, and a projected 12,000 square feet of lecture halls and classrooms. In addition to office space and a student academic center, the new building is expected to contain almost 50,000 square feet of assignable space. In contrast, Storrs Hall comprises 26,500 square feet.
As part of the planning process, preliminary site and civil engineering investigations are being conducted, which will be followed by the design process. Construction is anticipated to begin in fall 2024 and finish in time for the start of the 2026-2027 academic year. The building’s proposed location on Alethia Drive in Storrs is positioned close to several complementary facilities and complexes including the Brain Imaging Resource Center building that houses UConn’s functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, machine; the Communication Sciences Building; the Wellness Community student housing in nearby West Complex; and the UConn Health Nayden Rehabilitation Clinic in the Human Development Center.
This article was originally published in the Fall 2023 issue of Unison.pdf.
