2013 Opening Planned for RMU's RISE Center

Construction on new 37,000-square foot RISE Center could be underway as early as this summer, said a university official. 

The three-level facility will house both the university's nursing program as well as its growing Regional Research and Innovation in Simulation Education program, known as the RISE Center, which uses a combination of simulated mannequins and real-life actors to train healthcare students and professionals.  

Moon Township's approved a final land development plan for the facility earlier this month. 

Bill Joyce, RMU architect and director of planning and design, said the center could open for students in the fall of 2013. RMU has tapped Pittsburgh-based firm Astorino Architects for the project. No budget estimate as yet available, Joyce said. 

RISE Center director Dr. Valerie Howard said the program, launched in 2009, has already earned the university international attention and is attracting a growing number of students. 

RMU first began training nursing students using simulation technology in 2005, Howard said. 

"Not only will (the new building) give us more space, it will help us expand the program," Howard said. "We see this new building as being a regional training center. We already train some physicians from Heritage Valley (at the center). We see opportunities to get the community involved, maybe for our seniors we can offer a wellness program."

Howard said the center employs theater students to interact with nursing and other healthcare majors at the campus, as well as life-like mannequins that not only have vital signs but also can bleed and cry.  

"What we're doing is really recreating reality," Howard said. "The idea is to train them here in this environment before sending them out to train on real patients." 

The center is now located in the John Jay Center, where Howard says the program's growth has been limited by the building's space constraints. 

"We share the building with the science, engineering, math programs," Howard said. "We also have a nuclear medicine lab. Our vision is to have all of the faculty and the program in the same facility."

Joyce said the building, one of several new facilities at the Moon-based university, will designed with an aesthetic similar to other new constructions on the campus. The project also includes plans that could make RMU’s campus easier to navigate, he said. 

In the fall, the university will open the renovated Wayne Center to house its School of Communications and Information Systems. RMU also opened the six-story dormitory in the fall of 2011. 

"We are trying to develop a palate of exterior materials and some consistency on campus," Joyce said. "We're trying to develop a palate of exterior materials on the buildings: Metal roofs with some sort of identifying features, brick, metal panels." 

The second phase of the RISE Center project includes improvements to RMU's Pennsylvania Avenue, connecting it to Massey Way to form a road that loops around the campus without dead-ends. 

The loop road would encourage motorists to stay on the perimeter of campus, while students and faculty walk to class. Joyce said the work on campus roadways is likely several years away. 

"If we can complete the parameter loop road (around campus), people would be less confused getting around campus," Joyce said. "It would mean most of the traffic is on that perimeter loop and it would encourage more pedestrian traffic on the interior of campus." 

"It's really exciting," Howard said. "We see this not only as an asset to the campus, but for the Moon Township community."