NEW LONDON, NH — Colby-Sawyer College recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the Janet Udall Schaefer ’52 Center for Health Sciences. Located on the Colby-Sawyer campus in New London, New Hampshire, the building will support increased enrollment in the college’s undergraduate and graduate health science and nursing programs. The new facility will feature simulation suites and skills laboratories for enhanced teaching and learning.

This new center will be the home for the Nursing and Health Sciences programs at Colby-Sawyer College and a resource for the entire college community. Throughout the building, there will be spaces to attract students to come in, work, and study while being exposed to the possibilities of careers in nursing and the health sciences. With a modular approach used in the design, the building can be adapted for the future needs of the college.

Slated to open in fall 2024, the new 20,500-square-foot building is named after the late Janet Udall Schaefer, who attended in 1952 and returned in 1996 to complete her degree. Shaefer left one of the largest one-time gifts in Colby-Sawyer’s 186-year history, with a portion being designated to help fund the construction of the Center for Health Sciences building.

During the design process, HGA and the college called in a team of experts from the University of Massachusetts Boston and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center who advised on equipment selection, pedagogy, and space design following the latest trends and needs seen in the region.