Facilities and Information Technology
The College of Public Health currently occupies space in eight buildings on the University of Iowa campuses in Iowa City and Oakdale, as well as seven locations off-campus. Collegiate administration and faculty of four departments are housed in the General Hospital. The college's main reception area is located at E107 General Hospital. A student commons area is also located in General Hospital at E177. The college's fifth department, Occupational and Environmental Health, is housed at the Institute for Rural and Environmental Health (IREH) on the Oakdale campus.
Classrooms
Most classroom facilities are located in six buildings within one block on the Health Sciences campus. Many classrooms are located in the Medical Education and Biomedical Research Facility. Additional classrooms are in the Bowen Science Building, Medical Education Building, Medical Laboratories, General Hospital, and Westlawn. The classroom at Westlawn is equipped for distance education with connection to the Iowa Communication Network (ICN) and the Internet. Two classrooms also are available at IREH.
Computer Labs
Eight computer labs are available for graduate students and research assistants in the College of Public Health. Computer labs are located in the General Hospital, IREH, and Westlawn. Additional computer facilities are available in Bowen Science Building, the Medical Research Center, and the Hardin Library. Specialty labs exist in the Medical Education Building and IREH. For more information about computer labs and policies, view the IT web site.
Libraries
Students, faculty, and staff draw on extensive library resources available across campus. Hardin Library for the Health Sciences serves as a central resource for all of the health sciences colleges. The Information Commons, Hardin Library's state-of-the-art health sciences educational technology facility, offers high-end multimedia development workstations, networked electronic classrooms, a case-based learning/conference room, and information research workstations for searching health-related databases and the Internet. The Information Commons is a central support and delivery venue for courseware development, classroom instruction, health-related research, and independent learning.
A New Building for Future Growth
The University of Iowa began site preparations for construction of the new College of Public Health Academic Building in 2008, with project completion anticipated in late 2010. The facility, to be built on the site of what was the UI International Center on the west side of campus, will consolidate academic, administrative, and student-related functions of the College of Public Health. The building will provide state-of-the-art classrooms, teaching laboratories, and offices for primary faculty in the college's five academic departments.
The new facility — integrating "green" design features such as reflective roofing, use of natural lighting, permeable paving systems, and native-species planting areas — will serve as a showcase for sustainability and environmental awareness. The UI intends to achieve silver-level certification for this building within the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. It will be the first LEED-certified academic building on the UI campus. The building is being designed by a two-firm team consisting of Payette of Boston and Rohrbach Associates PC of Iowa City.
Updates on the building project can be found on the College of Public Health academic building web site.