SLCC gets Health Sciences Center aid

Salt Lake Community College will receive $850,000 for a new Health Sciences Center on its Jordan Campus as part of an appropriations bill passed in Washington, D.C., this week, allocating $6.5 million to education and health care in Utah.

The new center aims to meet the urgent demand for health-care professionals in Utah and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007. The center will nearly double the enrollment capacity in SLCC's nursing program.

The college's health science courses will be consolidated in the new center instead of being spread over six campuses as they currently are. The new building will offer 28 medical and general science labs, 15 classrooms, five computer labs and a 500-seat auditorium.