UW-Madison Designs for Collaboration

MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison nursing students will kick off the fall semester in a new $52.8 million facility. The school’s recently completed Signe Skott Cooper Hall offers more than 166,000 square feet of high-tech learning space and was officially dedicated on Aug. 23.

The five-story, state-of-the-art building features an open, airy design that promotes student-faculty interaction and collaboration. Along with a 300-seat auditorium, modern conference rooms, personal health spaces and dozens of project offices, Signe Skott Cooper Hall also includes an innovative active learning complex (ALC). This complex comprises 34 interactive student tables complete with laptop hookups and a flat-screen television for image projection. The ALC “provides the environment and technology for students to develop the skills necessary to work effectively in teams and to quickly analyze, discuss, understand and solve complex, real-life challenges in health care,” according to a statement released by the university.

“High-performance teamwork among nurses, physicians, pharmacists, other health professionals and family members is necessary in this complex health care system, not only to improve outcomes, but also to prevent harm,” said nursing school Dean Katharyn May in a statement.

The Signe Skott Cooper Hall, designed by Kahler Slater of Madison, also includes the Center for Technology-Enhanced Nursing, which further supports the school’s emphasis on engaging, team-based, interactive and problem-focused learning. A simulated four-room hospital suite and five high-fidelity human patient simulators representing various stages of life allow educators to guide students through 80 different health care scenarios. A simulated home environment and an eHealth laboratory also address team-based, patient-centered treatment throughout the continuum of care.

“Our focus here is not so much technology for its own sake but rather tools that make teamwork and collaboration easier,” George Jura, director of academic technology for the school, said in a statement.

In addition to offering top quality health care education, designers also integrated features aimed at improving environmental health. This building expects to improve water efficiency over a comparable baseline building by 30 percent and incorporates low-emitting interior finishes and furnishings. A green roof on the top level and plenty of natural light will help the facility reach its LEED Gold target.
To encourage the future of nursing and the future of the school’s nursing program, the facility was built to accommodate an anticipated 30 percent department growth, while the two-story wing was engineered for vertical expansion.

The forward-thinking building is named for Signe Skott Cooper, a UW-Madison graduate who dedicated more than six decades to the UW nursing program before her death in 2013. Cooper, also a historian and author, was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame and was named a “Living Legend” by the American Academy of Nursing in 2003, according to the university.