USD to Break Ground on $18 M Beyster Institute for Nursing Research

The University of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science officially will break ground on the $18 million Beyster Institute that represents the future of nursing on Monday, May 12 at 2 p.m. The event takes place adjacent to the current school on USD’s campus.

Fittingly, the groundbreaking will take place on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

The Betty and Bob Beyster Institute for Nursing Research, Advanced Practice, and Simulation will be a 30,000-square-foot, three-story building connected to the current nursing school by a bridge and plaza. The architect for the building is Ed Holakiewicz of gkkworks in San Diego. DPR Construction is the builder for the institute that will be completed in the fall of 2015.

“Our new building is truly designed to prepare the next generation of nurse scientists, educators, executives and advanced practitioners,” said Sally Brosz Hardin, dean of USD’s nursing school. It will include the new and expanded Elizabeth Dickinson Smoyer Nursing Simulation Center, the keystone of the school’s clinical teaching facilities and a national model for nursing education. The center was given by the San Diego-based Dickinson Foundation, which has been a committed supporter of the school for more than a decade.

The Beyster Institute also includes the Krause Family PhD Research Library/Study given by Gale and James Krause. James Krause was a prominent San Diego attorney and member of the USD Board of Trustees who passed away in 2012.

The library will permit PhD Nursing students to enjoy direct access to online research databases for current and historic, domestic, foreign, and international nursing materials.

The third-floor Research Center houses three research units that focus on critical health care issues of perinatal women’s health; healthy aging, cognition, and end-of-life care; and military and veterans’ physical and mental health.

There also will be an innovative Elder Adult Laboratory Apartment to assess and conduct research on the elderly’s functional status and activities of daily living, along with high-tech and executive classrooms.

Designed to meet Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) standards for sustainability, the Beyster Institute also features state-of-the-art technology, exposure to light and fresh air, and a healing garden.

A lead gift of $8 million from Dr. and Mrs. J. Robert Beyster helped make the institute, which focuses on clinical nursing research, possible. Robert Beyster is the founder of SAIC, an internationally respected research and engineering firm with offices around the globe. Other donors include nurse alumni, students, faculty, and staff, and friends of nursing. Many naming and funding opportunities for the Institute’s Research Units and Advanced Practice Training Center still exist.

“We are so grateful to our donors who share our vision for an institute that will allow us to significantly influence nursing policy and practice at the regional, national and global levels,” Hardin said.

USD’s current nursing school was built in 1978 and intended to serve just 100 students. Today the school has more than 450 graduate students and provides nearly half of the nursing faculty to other nursing schools in San Diego County and southern California.

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.