SIU BOT Approves Contracts and Plans for School of Dental Medicine Upgrades
The Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees at its regularly scheduled meeting on the Carbondale campus Thursday, March 19, approved a contract to remodel the student lab in the SIU School of Dental Medicine’s (SIU SDM) Dental Clinic Building on the Alton campus. It also approved planning for development of an Edwardsville campus dental clinic.
The SIU SDM student lab renovation will replace existing dental casework including provisions for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance, installing new electrical, natural gas and compressed air for each lab station, and replacing flooring, ceiling pads and general lighting.
The SIU SDM project will be funded from the dental clinic operations fund and the dental equipment fee. R&W Builder’s Inc., of Belleville, is the general contractor with a bid of $475,000.
The development of an Edwardsville campus dental clinic will require renovating 195 University Park Dr. The clinic will be primarily used to accommodate the SDM’s newly approved International Advanced Placement Program. The clinic’s lab space will accommodate the international students for their 12-week, intensive clinical certification course, which is required prior to their matriculation as a Year-3 dental student.
The Edwardsville clinic will accommodate various clinical rotations, primarily for graduate students. This will free necessary chair space at the Alton main clinic to accommodate the international program students with their cohort class. The clinic will also accommodate expansion of existing postdoctoral training programs as well as the possibly adding new programs.
A Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) process selected AAIC Architects, of Collinsville, to assist in determining the extent and cost of the project. The price will be finalized once a comprehensive cost estimate is determined. Final project and budget approval along with awarding of contracts will require further board consideration.
