BINGHAMTON – Senator Tom Libous and Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger have reached a deal with Governor Andrew Cuomo to set aside $10 million in the 2014-2015 New York State Budget to begin developing a $60 million School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacy in Johnson City.
“Working directly with the Governor made it very easy for us to move forward,” Libous said. “What the Binghamton University Downtown Center did to bring in private investment and new activity to revitalize downtown Binghamton, this school will do for Johnson City.”
The school will be off campus, preferably near one of the three major hospitals in the Triple Cities. The location will most likely be near Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City.
“It’s a critical announcement, because we’ve been talking for months about space and how to do a school on campus,” noted President Stenger. “Right now the campus is very tight as is the Innovative Technologies Complex with the Center of Excellence building nearing completion and the smart energy building about to break ground. This answers a very big question for us.”
The school will eventually enroll 240 pharmacy students, as well as dozens of professors and support staff, and more researchers as pharmaceutical innovations come along.
“Research will be a major component of what this school does – typically $300,000 to $400,000 a year in research, plus millions of dollars for the community as it generates new jobs,” Stenger said. “Between faculty and students – graduate students, many with families – the influx of people will help gentrify the area, leading to higher property values and better neighborhoods.”
The facility itself, about 40,000 square-feet, will include classrooms, research labs and equipment for about 15 research and 15 clinical professors. It will be constructed to complement neighboring buildings in a manner similar to the university’s Downtown Center in Binghamton.
“The University is the catalyst,” Libous added. “It acts as an anchor tenant for the entire community.”
