Construction of four new teaching labs and a student lounge will begin this summer at McGowan South, part of a plan to expand course offerings within the College of Science and Health. Located on the fourth floor, the new space will include labs for anatomy, physiology, physical chemistry, in addition to a flexible teaching space that can be utilized for other courses.

“We’ll be able to increase the number of sections offered and provide more wet-lab space where faculty and students can collaborate on research,” Dean Gerald Koocher of the College of Science and Health said. “We will also have a lab dedicated to human anatomy and physiology to meet the needs of students majoring in Health Sciences.”

A lounge for new faculty and students will be constructed adjacent to the new teaching labs on the fourth floor of McGowan South, offering a place for students to study or relax between classes. Renovations on the third floor of the building will create a second organic chemistry lab next to the one currently in use.

“Significant enrollment growth since the founding of the College of Science and Health created considerable demand for core courses such as general to organic chemistry sequence and anatomy and physiology. As a result, we asked the Trustees to support the build out of that space and renovation of other space to accommodate more class sections for our students,” Dean Koocher said.

Other improvement projects approved by the Board of Trustees include a renovation for the physics department in Byrne Hall. The plan hinges on a ‘studio’ classroom model, which encourages more collaborative, hands-on activities as part of the learning process. Remodeling the traditional lecture room to include more desktop space for group experiments will provide the necessary environment to foster more active participation for physics students.

“Although I only arrived at DePaul last summer, I’m impressed by the speed with which Fr. Holtschneider and the Trustees stepped up to the plate on this project. Once we demonstrated the need to increase our capacity, they acted quickly to advance the project,” Dean Koocher said. “In an era of tight financing in higher education this provides great evidence of DePaul’s commitment to meet the needs of our students.”