CSU Pueblo Celebrates Center for Integrated Health and Human Inquiry Grand Opening
Release Date: August 20, 2020
Colorado State University Pueblo celebrates the grand opening of the new Center for Integrated Health and Human Inquiry (CIHHI). This facility, formerly host of the Psychology building is a hub for interdisciplinary learning and collaborative spaces.
“Today, students and faculty engage differently in their learning and need spaces where they can collaborate with others,” said Timothy Mottet, President of CSU Pueblo. “This newly renovated facility promotes perspective taking. Without leaving the building, students have the opportunity to engage health practitioners as well as experts in psychology, political science, or world languages to complete and assignment or project.”
The CIHHI supports the various disciplines of Human Health, Nursing, Social Sciences, and the Humanities. Additionally, it will now host the Wolf Pack Wellness Center and the Counseling Center available for health needs of the campus community. CIHHI offers collaborative spaces, nursing simulation labs and distance learning classrooms which supports inclusion and access for CSU Pueblo.
“CSU Pueblo’s vision to be the people’s university implies providing its student with a better understanding of people as an underlying theme for all educational programs,” said Mohamed Abdelrahman, Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs at CSU Pueblo.
The Capital Development Committee of Colorado allocated $16.8 million for this building improvement plan. House District 46 Representative Daneya Esgar chairs the Joint Budget Committee for the State of Colorado and was instrumental in securing funding for the project. The DLR Group was responsible for the design while HW Houston Construction completed the build out of the campus project.
“In our becoming a university for all people, we have recommitted ourselves to a set of values that drive how we teach and learn on this campus,” said President Mottet. “Specifically, we value experiential learning where students and faculty partner with each other to examine and solve problems from multiple disciplinary perspectives.
In addition to hosting various programs, CSU Pueblo now boasts the CIHHI being home to the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program which is part of the School of Nursing. Joe Franta, the inaugural Dean of the College of Health, Education and Nursing introduced CSU Pueblo’s first two DNP graduates, Dr. Kati J. Foechterle and Dr. Ronda Orndoff. Foechterle and Orndoff were recognized in celebration of earning the first doctoral degrees in the university’s history.
At the conclusion of the ribbon cutting ceremony, building tours were given to all in attendance. Rooms within CIHHI have been named in honor of donors and their generous contribution to spaces within the building. A dedication ceremony to recognize donors of the CIHHI will be honored at a later time to highlight specific contributions and the impacts to CSU Pueblo faculty to students.
