Lyles-Porter Hall, which will have approximately 61,000 assignable square feet, is named in honor of a $10 million 2009 gift from Higuera of Visalia, Calif. She is a former speech pathologist who earned her bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology at Purdue in 1959.
The new building will house the university’s nationally ranked Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, as well as its collaboration with the IU School of Medicine.
One example of that collaboration is the doctorate of audiology program, which includes Purdue and the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Thanks to this partnership, Purdue audiology students work in clinical settings through the medical school, such as pediatric audiology and a cochlear implant program.
Since 1971, Purdue and the IU School of Medicine have had another partnership — the IU School of Medicine at Lafayette. Each year, 32 first- and second-year IU medical students are placed at the IUSM-Lafayette regional medical education center on the Purdue campus. After the new facility opens, that number will be increased to 48, and will expand to include third- and fourth-year students who will perform clinical rotations in the Greater Lafayette area.
IU School of Medicine Dean D. Craig Brater, M.D., noted the importance of the collaboration for the health of Indiana citizens.
“IU medical students who are educated at one of the eight centers we have around the state are 40 percent more likely to choose primary care medicine and practice in rural areas or smaller cities and towns in Indiana,” he said.
Dr. Brater said that he has collaborated with Purdue faculty in pharmacology since he moved to Indiana and joined the school of medicine faculty 25 years ago.
Purdue University President France A. Córdova, Ph.D., noted the significance of the mission of the Lyles-Porter Hall.
“The people who will be studying and working in this building are all motivated by compassion to help people,” she said. “No matter if a student is studying for a career in nursing, athletic training or medicine, or a professor is trying to improve hearing devices or understand complex speech problems, their goal is to improve people’s quality of life. This facility will be key to training students and expanding research opportunities, as well as improving wellness programs and clinics offered to the community.”
The total cost for the building and attached parking structure is $54 million. In addition to $38 million in bond proceeds, gifts totaling $16 million will be used to build the facility. Construction is expected to begin this summer, and the building will open in 2014.