CONTACT:
Jennifer Neighbors
(262) 649-3824; jennifer@neighborspr.com
MILWAUKEE – Bluefield College, Bluefield, Va. has hired architecture and experience design firm Kahler Slater to lead the programming, planning and design for its new School of Dental Medicine at Bluefield College.
Kahler Slater will partner on the project with the Tazewell, Va. office of engineering-architecture firm Thompson & Litton.
Bluefield College is establishing the new dental program in collaboration with the Tazewell County (Va.) Board of Supervisors and the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority (IDA). It will address the growing shortage of dentists and other dental care professionals in Southwestern Virginia and Central Appalachia and begin to fill the area’s understaffed clinics with the professionals needed to provide residents with necessary oral care.
The school will welcome its first students in the fall of 2016. The new facility is expected to accommodate between 260 and 300 students when fully operational. It will be located in The Bluestone, Tazewell County’s regional business and technology center in Tazewell.
The dental school will offer a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degree. Students will have extensive involvement in community service projects aimed at educating public school students about tooth decay, obesity, diabetes, hygiene, nutrition and exercise to help the region break the cycle of poor health outcomes in its communities.
“Kahler Slater has a long track record of working with higher education institutions to create dental education and other health sciences facilities that deliver exceptional experiences for students, faculty and the community and help prepare students well for their future careers,” said Dr. Francis G. Serio, inaugural dean of the dental school. “We look forward to partnering with them in achieving similar success as we build our new program.”
The firm’s other current and recent dental education projects include the Center for Oral Health and Research at the University of Texas San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas; the University of Utah School of Dentistry in Salt Lake City; the University of New England’s Oral Health Center in Portland, Maine; and the University of Florida College of Dentistry in Gainesville, Fla.
