Leonard Hall Renovation Update

In conjunction with the Centennial Celebration, the College is in the final year of the Centennial Capital Campaign to raise $15 million to support academic and research needs. The College is currently seeking external foundation support to fund renovation of Leonard Hall on the Pocatello campus. The renovation is extensive, at a cost of approximately $17 million, and your contributions will help build state-of-the-art laboratories to support the research mission of the College. The renovation plan for Leonard Hall transforms extremely outdated and unusable office, public, and laboratory space into state-of-the-art functionality. Specifically, current laboratories are poorly designed, cramped, and poorly lit, creating an extremely challenging work environment. And worse, the laboratory space is not ADA accessible. The current status of laboratories does not support collaborative, advanced research. In addition to physical space issues, the laboratories do not contain functional equipment and instrumentation, which at times compromises the safety of faculty, staff, and students. Laboratories are critical venues for student teaching and research in both graduate and Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programs. As part of the PharmD program, research facilities need to support the College of Pharmacy programmatic accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Poor laboratory conditions can threaten continued ACPE accreditation. The success of student tours during recruitment events and on-campus interviews of applicants for the PharmD program is negatively impacted by antiquated laboratories. Renovation of laboratories positively addresses key safety, recruitment, admissions, and accreditation issues currently challenging the College of Pharmacy. Further, mechanical system improvements associated with the renovation will enhance efficiency and reduce operating costs.

Renovation Plans

The renovation of Leonard Hall falls into two fundamental areas: laboratory renovation (2nd floor) and laboratory expansion (basement). The combination of these two areas provides a significant increase in square footage designated for research, while at the same time, reorganizing research around open laboratories and a pharmaceutical sciences core laboratory. The core laboratory will provide efficiencies that will reduce research costs and instrument duplication and provide a pharmaceutical industry-style training for students. The open laboratory blocks and public spaces will provide increased collaborative interactions.

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

The Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (BPSCI) is located within the College of Pharmacy and is integral to the delivery of quality PharmD and graduate education. In addition to preparing pharmacists for the rigors of the profession, the BPSCI department is a multidisciplinary unit in the College. The BPSCI department is the sole program in Idaho for post-graduate education in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences. The mission of the BPSCI graduate program is to train and prepare students to succeed in one of the biomedical and pharmaceutical science disciplines: Drug Discovery and Development, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacometrics, and Pharmacology/ Toxicology. Updated labs are critical to the success of the Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences.