After a quarter century in the making, the expansion of the College of Pharmacy will finally be complete when the University hosts a dedication ceremony today.

The $44 million building – known as Pharmacy South – sits on the south side of the preexisting Robert C. Wilson Pharmacy building on Green Street in South Campus.

The College began moving into the new addition, which is now about 95 percent usable, in mid-July.

“It’s been just a wonderful, wonderful addition,” said George Francisco, associate dean of the College.

The 93,288-square-foot facility cost about $16 million less than the $60 million Tate Student Center expansion, which opened in June and was dedicated last month.

The $44 million spent covered construction costs, lab equipment, furniture, architectural fees and additional costs.

University President Michael Adams and Svein Oie, dean of the College of Pharmacy, will both speak at the dedication ceremony today at 3 p.m.

A key advantage of Pharmacy South is the large auditoriums which can accommodate a greater number of students than the preexisting building.

“It allows the college to go from teaching classes of 120 students to classes of 200 students,” said campus architect Danny Sniff. “It allows the College to meet the demands of educating new pharmacy students, which is significant because it is the only public college of pharmacy in the state.”

Although the Wilson building’s largest auditorium sat 300 people, the lack of additional large auditoriums led to class-scheduling issues that necessitated an expansion.

“Basically we had three years of students and classes that we had to work into two rooms, and it just made everything crazy. Classes were all day and we were trying to sandwich labs in the middle.” Francisco said. “This [new addition] gives us some time to spread out the students so they have a more structured learning environment.”

Pharmacy students have also noticed the improvement the extra classrooms provide.

“There was a lot of anticipation for the new building, especially among my class,” said Katie Chambers, a first-year pharmacy student from Oconee. “There were a lot of space issues which needed to be worked out.”

The new classrooms feature state-of-the-art video recording and distance learning capabilities.

“We’ll have some classes where professors in Augusta can teach us via broadcast,” said Lora Oliver, a first-year pharmacy student from Oconee.

Oliver will serve as a student hostess during the dedication by handing out brochures to alumni and guests.

The new addition also includes two large research labs, two student lounges, a student learning center, a hospital pharmacy, a community pharmacy, a sterile products room, an IV prep room and an executive conference room.

Pharmacy South is the first building on campus to earn the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certification – a national benchmark for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

The decision to seek LEED certification was partly based on student interest.

“Students today are more concerned with LEED certification,” Sniff said.

Groundbreaking for the project took place in November 2007, after the Georgia Legislature approved funding for the addition. It is connected to the Wilson building – built in 1964 – by a glass-enclosed bridge.

Although the construction took less than two years to finish, the College conceived plans for an expansion in the mid-1980s. Since then, the proposed project had to climb the priority list of both the University and the Board of Regents.

“There have been a lot of people who have worked really hard, either as alumni or legislators, to help make the building a reality,” Francisco said. “And I haven’t met a single person in this building – student, faculty, staff – who is not extremely grateful to everybody who made this building possible.”