The University of Utah has broken ground on a new $36.4 million building for its dental school.
The nearly 80,000-sq-ft Ray and Tye Noorda Oral Health Education Building in Research Park will provide state-of-the-art lab and classroom facilities, administrative and faculty offices, and a dental clinic, according to a university press release. The building is scheduled for completion in December 2014.
The dental school opened this year and welcomed its inaugural class of 20 students on August 16. Rena N. D'Souza, DDS, PhD, a dental researcher and educator, was named dean of the school. She comes from Baylor College of Dentistry and is an expert in craniofacial genetics, tooth development, and regeneration.
The family of Ray Noorda, who founded the Novell software company, donated $30 million for the new building.
