JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. — On Jan. 25, the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY Binghamton) held a milestone topping out ceremony for the university’s new School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences new will be located on a new, eight-acre health sciences campus being developed in Johnson City, approximately two miles from the main campus.

The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM) of Syracuse, N.Y., designed the $60 million, 105,000-square-foot academic- and research-oriented facility. The project is part of the NYSUNY 2020 initiative, which aims to jumpstart economic growth while also strengthening academic programs across New York State.

Spanning four stories, the SUNY Binghamton School of Pharmacy will house approximately 36 new faculty members and staff and 240 students.
Photo Credit: SUNY Binghamton

Spanning four stories, the facility will house approximately 36 new faculty members and staff and 240 students. It will include a variety of teaching and learning spaces such as state-of-the-art research and instructional labs, lecture halls, a pharmacy practice lab, and interactive classrooms that can be used for lectures, team-based learning and small-group work. A library, faculty offices, student activity spaces and support spaces will also be included, according to a statement by SLAM.

To support more hands-on education, the facility will additionally house compounding, pharmaceutical care and sterile labs, and mock community and hospital pharmacies as well as a state-of-the-art simulation lab. Nearly two entire floors of the building will be dedicated to research with high-tech research tools and equipment as well as high-throughput screening capabilities and large-data computing, according to a statement by SLAM. A medicinal garden will also be located outside the building.

“We look forward to this new facility which will provide optimal spaces to advance pharmaceutical sciences and educate future pharmacists,” said Richard Polvino, AIA, LEED AP, SLAM principal-in-charge on the project, in a statement. “We hope it will enrich the presence of SUNY Binghamton’s pharmacy program and ultimately impact healthcare across the state.”

The long-term plan for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences includes three phases. The first will establish the new school of pharmacy; the second will focus on an addition to the existing nursing program facility on the main campus; and the third will expand the university’s pharmacy school to accommodate more students and faculty.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo provided funding for the $60 million school in the state budget as part of a NYSUNY 2020 initiative, according to the project’s website. Upon its summer 2018 completion, the new building is expected earn LEED Silver certification.

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences students will be able to participate in a four-year program to earn a pharmaceutical doctorate, and the school will also offer a Ph.D. program with courses taken in both pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy practice, culminating in clinical placements during the last three semesters. The school will further allow university graduates with a bachelor’s degree in biology or chemistry to earn a pharmaceutical doctorate in three years.