The Illinois Board of Higher Education, jointly with the Capital Development Board, has awarded Elmhurst University a $9.08 million grant to help fund construction of the new health sciences building on campus.

The grant was awarded through the state’s Independent Colleges Capital Investment Grant Program, which provides financial assistance to private, not-for-profit colleges and universities in Illinois for construction, repair, renovation and other capital projects.

The University broke ground earlier this fall on the three-story, 45,000-square-foot health sciences building, which will be located between Memorial Hall and Schick Hall. The state-of-the-art facility will be a multidisciplinary hub for the nursing, public health, occupational therapy and communication sciences and disorders programs.

The facility will house a simulation space and virtual reality lab, as well as a new speech-language-hearing clinic, classrooms, offices and labs. It also will also house the Jans Military and Veterans Center, a resource center for student veterans and students actively serving in the military.

To maximize accessibility for users and visitors, universal design principles have been applied throughout the plans for the facility. The building also will be constructed with the goal of earning LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, the world’s most widely used green building rating system.

Elmhurst University recently completed a comprehensive fundraising campaign to support several campus priorities, including construction of the health sciences building. The $30 million facility is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2025.