University, ALSAM Foundation and Pocatello/Chubbuck Chamber of Commerce officials clap after cutting the ribbon on the newly renovated Leonard Hall. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com POCATELLO – The extensive remodeling of a building where students have studied pharmaceutical sciences for eight decades is officially complete. Leonard Hall, one of the oldest buildings on Idaho State University’s campus and the home of the L.S. Skaggs College of Pharmacy is now officially open for students and faculty members. The building has been under construction for nearly three years as it received a remodel that touched nearly the entire building. “Leonard Hall now stands as a gateway into a new era. A vessel for discovery. And the scientists and students who now and will walk these hallways are literally the lifeblood of that vessel and our potential,” said Tom Wadsworth, Dean for the College of Pharmacy, in an address made at the grand opening ceremony on Friday. The building became the home of the College of Pharmacy the same year it was constructed in 1943. It served as a home for pharmaceutical education for 80 years before officials decided it was time for a remodel. Brian Sagendorf, vice president of Campus Operations, told EastIdahoNews.com that before the remodel, the building had become “very dated,” with confined and narrow labs and a lack of collaborative study spaces for students. “Students (were) sitting on floors or hallways after class, taking notes, and there really wasn’t a place in the college for students to gather together (and) work on their projects together,” Sagendorf said. Additionally, Sagendorf said, “the labs were so confined and small, narrow, it really limited the amount of adaptability that faculty members could do with their research.” The remodel of Leonard Hall was made possible by a multi-million dollar donation, the largest in its history, from the ALSAM Foundation, founded by L.S. “Sam” and Aline Skaggs. The donation provided $14 million for the $20.2 million project, which prompted the university to rename the college in their honor. RELATED | ISU set to complete College of Pharmacy building by August While he passed away in 2013, Susie Balukoff, a foundation board member and daughter of Sam and Aline Skaggs, reflected on what her father would think of the building renovation. “I cannot tell you how proud my father would be today if he was standing here and saw what you have done with his monies to improve the lives of our fellow men,” Balukoff said. Students looking for a place to study in the new Leonard Hall will now find multiple options, including a student lounge on the third floor. The lounge has plenty of space for students and whiteboards for collaborative study, and a view of the laboratories right next door. What used to be segmented with walls every 10 to 20 feet is now a wide-open laboratory, with windows providing natural light and benches that can be reconfigured based on faculty and student needs. “It’s an ongoing classroom with science on display, which is pretty neat,” Sagendorf said. The student lounge on the third floor of Leonard Hall. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com The laboratory on the third floor of Leonard Hall. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com The view from the student lounge of the laboratory. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com Taylor Looney, a pharmacy student and second-year Pocatello Class President, praised the building’s design at the ground-breaking ceremony. “The updated classrooms and study spaces aren’t just modern and beautiful, they’re truly intentional. They give us an environment that makes learning more engaging, collaboration more natural, and yes, even studying at 11 p.m. just a wee bit more bearable,” Looney said. Sagendorf offered praise to the faculty and students of the College of Pharmacy for relocating out of Leonard Hall during the remodeling process, allowing the university “to make even broader use of all the funding.” “Rather than touching about 60% or 70% of the building, the project nearly touched 100% of the building,” Sagendorf said. “We renovated spaces on all three floors in a more compressed time schedule, and could make an even bigger splash with the … funding,” Sagendorf said. While the inside of the building has been completely renovated, its exterior architecture has been preserved. Robert Wagner, president of ISU, brought this up in his speech, pointing out how the exterior reflects ISU’s past while the inside reflects its future. “(The building) is literally a bridge of this institution’s past to this institution’s future,” Wagner said. President Wagner delivers his address at the grand opening ceremony. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com The post Renovated ISU building becomes ‘bridge’ between university’s past and future appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com
Renovated ISU building becomes ‘bridge’ between university’s past and future
