With classes, labs and service opportunities in full swing at Manchester University’s College of Pharmacy, it’s time to dedicate the new north Fort Wayne campus.

The $20 million, 82,000-square-foot structure at Dupont and Diebold roads just east of Interstate 69 is designed especially for pharmacy study. “Our new facility is far exceeding our expectations. It is contemporary, functional, comfortable, and gorgeous,” says Whitney Caudill, associate dean for administration and finance who also teaches pharmacy law and ethics courses.

The public is invited to the dedication at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18. Indiana Sen. David C. Long and other supporters of the MU College of Pharmacy will speak, followed by a reception and campus tours.

“We have ample and significant laboratory space to conduct basic and applied biomedical science research with the potential to serve as a major hub for pharmacy education in the entire region,” says MU toxicology specialist Sidhartha Ray, who has 28 years of academic experience and national awards in pharmacy research and teaching.

The College of Pharmacy also is home to a Drug Information Center dedicated to enhancing and collaborating in patient-centered pharmaceutical care in northeast Indiana.

A stunning $35 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. in December 2010 put Manchester on the path to the “built from scratch” north Fort Wayne campus. MU broke ground only a year before faculty and staff moved into their new offices this June. Students arrived in early August for their four-year journey of study and experiential opportunities in hundreds of area pharmacy and health care sites. Seventy more new Pharm.D. candidates will arrive each of the next three years to fill the campus.

“The building has already proven to be an exceptional working and learning environment,” says Caudill. “The building design gives our students classrooms designed specifically for integrated and collaborative learning, study and working together on projects in teams.”

The architect was Design Collaborative, working with general contractor Michael Kinder & Sons Inc., both of Fort Wayne.

Manchester University’s 11-acre Fort Wayne campus also is quickly becoming an easily accessible hub for workshops, seminars and gatherings for a wide variety of groups in northeast Indiana as well as a learning center for Manchester University.
The 150-seat auditorium, with the latest technical ability for communication in today’s world, is “one of the best around,” says Alexis Young, MU director of conference services. “People are impressed when they see it.” Conference rooms with adjustable walls, seminar rooms, break-out rooms – all are in grouped for easy access, separate from the pharmacy offices and laboratories. A large dining area and staging areas for area caterers complete the package.
A number of organizations, from health systems to labor unions and financial services, are booking the facilities, Young says.
Just off the spacious, three-story lobby is an art gallery. In addition, this month, MU received a 12-panel original artwork of Jeffrey Crane, created especially for the Fort Wayne campus and made possible by a generous donor. His use of photography and aluminum for his Fort Wayne skyline composition was inspired by the contemporary use of metal throughout the College of Pharmacy structure.