Medical Sciences Building Nearing Finish for January 2013 Classes at MC

Work continued in late December on Mississippi College’s new 20,000-square-foot medical sciences building with the project on the Clinton campus due to be completed in mid-January.

Lighting fixtures were going up outside the massive building along College Street as workers stayed busy finishing sidewalks, and projects to fully furnish classrooms, labs and other interior portions of the facility.

The medical sciences building features cadaver and histology labs, a lecture hall, additional research space, faculty offices and much more.

The 21^st Century facility will give MC students a first-rate medical school experience on the Clinton campus for decades to come.

“For undergraduates and graduate students, this will be a huge recruiting tool,” says Dr. Beth Dunagin, associate chair of the Department of Biological Science.

MC’s newest building includes a 4,800-square-foot gross anatomy lab that will house human dissection courses for undergraduate and graduate students.

Construction began in the summer of 2011 and the building is designed to give much more breathing room to a program bursting at the seams. The structure is adjacent to the Hederman Science Building.

Faculty and staff began moving into the medical sciences building in December. Spring 2013 classes at Mississippi College are to begin January 14, and school leaders believe it should be ready by then.

The new building will accommodate “the phenomenal growth in the biology program,” says Dr. Stan Baldwin, dean of the School of Science and Mathematics and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences.

Baldwin created and heads the master of medical science program that trains graduates for medical and dental schools. It began with fewer than 20 students in 2005 and now enrolls 200 full-time students from 130 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.

Although not nearly as big a project, work continued in late December to convert the old MC bookstore in Alumni Hall into hangout space for students between classes. The facility will also include a small food outlet where students can purchase coffee and muffins. The bookstore relocated in the fall to Olde Towne Clinton next-door to Pimento’s Café.