Something old and something new combines to give the newly opened Conway School of Nursing building on the campus of The Catholic University of America an exterior with a classic look and an interior filled with state-of-the-art components where the next generation of nurses are being trained.
Marie Nolan – the dean and a professor in the Conway School of Nursing at Catholic University – noted that the new building blends in well with the surrounding buildings on the campus of the university that was founded in 1887. Most of the granite stones forming the exterior of the new nursing school building came from the former Church of the Transfiguration in Philadelphia, which was dismantled in 2009.
The nursing school dean said those stones reflect the school’s mission of educating nurses to share in the healing ministry of Jesus.
“Our school is now surrounded by stones of a church where Jesus was present in the Eucharist, where babies were baptized, where people received First Communion and Confirmation and were married and buried,” Dean Nolan said. She added, “It’s just like us – in nursing we take care of people from conception to natural death, the whole life span. It feels very holy that we’re surrounded by these stones… I tell everyone that you feel God’s presence at Catholic University, and that feels like an example of this.”
Those granite stones were inset into panels of precast concrete, and granite stones from Maine were used along the base of the building and on the base of the new gateway there, which has walls made of limestone, reported Debra Nauta-Rodriguez, Catholic University's associate vice president for facilities, planning and management and the university architect.
Dean Nolan, a registered nurse and the former executive vice dean of Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, returned to Catholic University to lead her alma mater’s nursing school in 2022 after earning a doctorate there in 1989.
Students at the Conway School of Nursing began taking classes in the new building in August, and on Sept. 12, 2024, the high-tech classrooms, labs and simulation and clinical learning spaces there were blessed and dedicated.
“It was really a joy to see the students,” Dean Nolan said, remembering how the first day in the new building unfolded. “As soon as classes ended, I found students all day long going in and out of classrooms, laboratories and study spaces to get to know the building.”
The Conway School of Nursing – which began educating nursing students in 1933 – now has 375 undergraduate students working toward a bachelor of science degree in nursing, and 87 graduate students pursuing either master of science degrees in nursing or doctor of nursing practice or doctor of philosophy degrees. Students in the undergraduate nursing programs take classes onsite and gain clinical experience in health care facilities in the Washington area, while graduate students study online from across the United States and come to campus for onsite experiences. The nursing school offers a Spanish for Healthcare program to serve that growing community.
The new building came about thanks to a $40 million donation from William E. Conway Jr. and his late wife, Joanne Conway. The Conways also donated millions more in scholarship funding over more than 10 years to the nursing school. The William and Joanne Conway Nursing Scholars Program supports scholarships to 104 current Conway Scholars in Catholic University’s nursing school. With the generous support of the Conways and other donors, the new building has significant space for more learning and the school has expanded its student enrollment and faculty size in recent years.
“We are just so blessed to have this level of technology and this amount of space,” Dean Nolan said.
Lecture halls, classrooms, labs and clinical training spaces throughout the new Conway School of Nursing are designed to facilitate collaborative learning, and each room has a crucifix. On the ground floor, the Carol Ann Thompson Rossi Auditorium seats 207 students for large classes. Instead of theater seating, students assemble there around long conference tables, and they sit in swivel chairs so they can pivot to have group discussions.
Classrooms have circular tables equipped with large screens where teachers can display information for that class. Students can work on case studies together and share their work from their laptops. The chairs have wheels, so students can slide over to work with the group at the next table. Shades on the windows of classrooms can be opened and closed electronically for better viewing of presentations, and the classrooms have cameras for students’ remote learning.
Rooms for quiet study are interspersed throughout the building, including in the Mary Walsh Historical Book Room. Some of those rooms have large windows, and some feature interactive screens and white boards for group work. The building also has a lounge area where nursing students can share meals and socialize with friends.
Stairways passing large windows with scenic views of the campus connect the floors of the buildings. In addition to classrooms, the first floor includes a Microbiology Lab and an Anatomy and Physiology Lab where students have hands-on learning, and a Virtual Reality Suite to expose students to various clinical scenarios.
The second floor includes simulation areas where nursing students can practice clinical work in simulated hospital rooms, operating rooms and examination rooms in primary care settings, where they can practice skills on mannequins like taking vital signs including checking a patient’s temperature, blood pressure and heart rate, and practice administering injections.
Sometimes the nursing students practice treating actors trained to pretend they are patients with different medical conditions, like heart disease and diabetes. A faculty member in an adjoining control room can assess the students’ nursing skills and interactions. While some nursing students practice treating patients, sometimes their fellow students pretend being accompanying family members who may have questions about their loved one’s condition and treatment.
“I love that part of simulation, we’re practicing not only skills, but empathy,” Dean Nolan said.
Nursing students there also sharpen their techniques at doing things like administering intravenous medications at two skills labs on the third floor that include practice bays with beds and stretchers.
“By the time they work in hospitals, we want them confident in administering medications and assessing and treating patients, and most importantly, respecting the dignity of the human person, and that is what I would say sets our graduates apart at the Conway School of Nursing,” said Dean Nolan.
It took about three years to complete the new Conway School of Nursing building, and the work began under the leadership of the previous dean, Patricia McMullen, with associate vice president Nauta-Rodriguez; Thomas Striegel, the university's senior director for planning and design management and the associate university architect; and the late Thomas Mulquin, the university's senior director for facilities, planning and construction. The building was accomplished by Clark Construction Group which partnered with the combination of designers Ayers Saint Gross and Robert A.M. Stern Architects.
At a ceremony during the Sept. 12 blessing and dedication of the Conway School of Nursing learning spaces, Dean Nolan thanked the school’s benefactors for their generosity, saying, “These halls carry your stories, your legacies. Generations of nurses are going to study in classrooms, be trained in labs, and launch lifelong careers of caring in rooms sunlit by windows bearing your names.”
Dr. Peter K. Kilpatrick, the president of The Catholic University of America, also thanked the benefactors for embracing the university’s vision for the Conway School of Nursing. Their support, he said, has enhanced the daily student experience for nursing majors, elevated the campus with a beautiful new building and supported the university’s goal of increasing enrollment.
“Our nursing program is already regarded as prestigious and one of the best in the nation, and the impact of our instruction and of our nursing graduates is far-reaching – well beyond this neighborhood and area hospitals where our students do their clinical training,” Dr. Kilpatrick said. “…Now, with this spectacular building, we have a setting that can truly match the outstanding caliber of our faculty and students and spur them on to even higher heights.”
On Sept. 9, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory presided at a ceremony to bless and dedicate the Joanne Barkett Conway Memorial Roof Garden for students, faculty and staff at the new Conway School of Nursing building. A plaque in the garden expresses gratitude to William and Joanne Conway for their dedication and support to the university’s nursing students and states, “Joanne’s legacy will live on through their accomplishments.”
In an interview, Dean Nolan said, “We’re grateful to Mr. Conway and to many other donors who have made donations both to the building and to the scholarship fund. It has enabled us to prepare more nurses who see the profession as sharing in the healing ministry of Jesus Christ, and that makes all the difference.”
During the Sept. 12 blessing and dedication ceremony, priests from Catholic University’s campus ministry blessed classrooms, study areas and laboratories supported by benefactors.
Some of the benefactors attending that event reflected in interviews about their support of the nursing school.
The Fallon Family Group Study Room there was blessed and dedicated in honor of the memory of Courtney Fallon Nerenberg, a 1991 graduate of Catholic University who died of cancer last year. “She would love it. She had a wonderful time here and a wonderful education,” said Mary Fallon, her mother.
Courtney Fallon Nerenberg’s brother, Kieran Fallon and his wife Katie have a daughter, Mairin, who graduated from the nursing school in 2022 and now serves as a psychiatric nurse, working with young adults and adolescents.
Kieran Fallon said the study room in his sister’s memory “helps continue her spirit and her love and passion for Catholic University, as well as supporting the education of nurses which will fill a vital need in our society.”
One of the skills labs was blessed and dedicated in honor of the Kappa Chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Kathleen Noel, the chapter’s president and a 1979 graduate of the nursing school who serves as a member of its Board of Visitors, in an interview praised the new state-of-the-art facility. “What it’s doing for nursing education is unbelievable,” she said.
A plaque outside the Dr. Elizabeth McFarlane Student Liaison Suite notes that it was made possible by a gift from Judith Mahoney. In an interview, Mahoney, who earned a master’s degree from the nursing school in 1995, said that McFarlane, a longtime faculty member there, “launched my nurse practitioner career. She’s been an inspiration.”
McFarlane said that support for the nursing school from her former student “brought tears to my eyes.” She noted, “It’s touching as you look back over the years in the profession. It gives a credence to what you were doing. Maybe you were able to touch someone and be supportive as they pursued their career.”
The veteran educator added, “Nursing students are special. They work very hard. They are our inspiration.”
The next week, Dean Nolan during an interview in her office said the Conway School of Nursing is not just preparing excellent clinicians, but it is also preparing students for the vocation of nursing, to care for the whole person, mind, body and spirit, and to be healers bringing compassionate care and hope to their patients.
“Every morning when I cross the threshold, I say, ‘Thank you, God, for this beautiful building.’ It enables us to do God’s work,” she said.
Related story:
Nursing students at Catholic University’s Conway School of Nursing reflect on their new state-of-the-art facility and their dreams for the future
Related website:
The Conway School of Nursing at The Catholic University of America
