New Osteopathic School of Medicine Designed to Address Arkansas’ Physician Shortage

COLUMBUS, Ohio – One-hundred and fifteen medical students will join the Arkansas State University Jonesboro campus, Jonesboro, Arkansas, this fall when the new school of osteopathic medicine opens for its first class. Planned and designed by DesignGroup, the school had a groundbreaking in June. The school is housed in Wilson Hall, the oldest building on the A-State campus and a centerpiece on the historic quad.

The 86,000-square-foot hall required a major renovation to incorporate an osteopathic manipulative medicine lab, gross anatomy lab, simulated operating room and emergency room skills lab among other classrooms. Since distance learning will be an important part of the curriculum, what once was a library is now a multimedia classroom that accommodates 132 students. The auditorium has also been transformed into a high-tech classroom, but historic elements of it have been incorporated into the design that is sensitive to the original Art Deco style of the building. Four of the auditorium’s original lights that had been removed – but saved – during an earlier renovation have been added to a stairwell.

Other elements saved from the 1930’s era building include the marble walls of the front lobby, decorative stamped metal panels under the windows and a stone carving of “the scholar” over the original library entrance.

The general contractor on the project was Clark Contractors.