While hundreds of students, faculty, community leaders and more looked on, Dean Heather Young of the UC Davis Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing led UC Davis Chancellor Gary May, foundation Chief Administrative Officer Ken Moore, foundation board member Kathleen Justice-Moore and others in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to mark the grand opening of Betty Irene Moore Hall last Friday. The newest academic building at UC Davis Health is home to the graduate programs of the school of nursing and supports interprofessional health sciences education.
Betty Irene Moore Hall is a $50 million, 70,000-square-foot building where learning spaces are geared towards a collaborative, hands-on learning style versus traditional classrooms. It includes state-of-the-art simulation suites, such as a home apartment setting to practice home health care. During the conception phase of the building, Dean Young was highly inclusive. She spoke with faculty, students, community members, UC Davis leaders and others about their hopes and needs for Betty Irene Moore Hall. What resulted is an intentionally designed building that puts function first. The intricate building structure is also meant to inspire discovery and innovation.
We committed $100 million over 12 years for the creation of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis – the nation's largest grant for nursing education. Betty Irene Moore Hall represents the last major installment of that funding and the vision to “advance health and ignite leadership through innovative education, transformative research and bold system change.”
Our focus on nursing came from Betty Irene Moore herself. She is not a nurse, but while in the hospital, Betty experienced a near-deadly medication error. This incident catalyzed her interest and passion in improving the health care system. She believed that if this could happen to her, it could happen to anyone. Betty saw an opportunity to educate nurses – who provide the majority of our care – with the goal of improving patient outcomes. UC Davis shared that vision and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing was born; applications for the first ever graduate classes opened in 2010.
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