CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA (October 5, 2022) — A large contingent of the Coe College and Corridor communities were on hand the evening of Thursday, September 29, to dedicate the David and Janice McInally Center for Health and Society (CHS). The dedication event was held inside the CHS on Coe’s campus.
Among invitees were individuals and representatives of organizations who were all critical in the vision, funding and completion of the project. This includes National Advisory Board members Michelle Niermann, President and CEO for UnityPoint health — Cedar Rapids; Okpara Rice, CEO of Tanager Place; Julie Johnson of the Hall Perrine Foundation; Ron Olson of the Esther and Robert Armstrong Charitable Trust; Kathy Good of Family Caregivers Center of Mercy; Phil Wasta of the MedQuarter Regional Medical District; Jeff Pomeranz from the City of Cedar Rapids; Heather Lynxwiler from OPN Architects; and Randy Parks and Nate Kaeding from Build to Suit Inc.
The National Board of Advisors will continue to guide CHS and foster collaboration between local and national health leaders. In addition to Niermann and Rice, board members include Mercy Medical Center President and CEO Tim Charles and Medical Director, MercyCare Business Health Solutions Dr Tim Sagers (’97), and UnityPoint Health — St Luke’s Chief Medical Officer and Associate Medical Director of Hospital-Based Providers Dr Dustin Arnold (’91), as well as others with national reputations in the health field.
Central to the dedication event, however, was Coe President Emeritus David McInally and former first lady Janice McInally, for whom the building was dedicated.
“It is a great honor to dedicate the Center for Health and Society to David and Janice McInally, and I am delighted they are here to join us," said Coe President David Hayes (’93).
Also addressing the crowd were other members of the Coe community including:
- Vice Chair of the Coe Board of Trustees, Sigrid Reynolds (’94)
- Interim Provost Angela Ziskowski
- Current Coe student Antonia Valdivia Araya (’24)
“This building supports the notion that Coe students and graduates have a connection to something larger than themselves. We want our students to understand that health careers are expansive,” Reynolds said.
With the CHS, any major at Coe College could lead to a career related to health and well-being. Advising, networking, and first-hand experience will facilitate the pursuit of a range of career paths that suit a student’s individual strengths. For instance, art majors could learn about medical illustration, religion majors could study the role of spirituality in healing and business majors could prepare to become administrators. The CHS will help people realize they can have a career helping people, directly and indirectly, and alleviate some of the staffing burden the health industry is facing — which is expected to have 2.6 million open positions by 2030.
“The new Center for Health and Society will allow Coe College to focus on pre-health paths, allied health, and the medical humanities through a multi and interdisciplinary lens,” Ziskowski said.
“Aarman Rowther very articulately shared that for premedical students the liberal arts teach the basis for language and communication between doctor and patient, they teach the critical thinking required for the uncertain and ethically-challenging decisions faced by all in the medical profession, and the large questions that face the health fields about what roles they should play in health-care politics, business, and society as a whole,” Ziskowski added.
Coe is now positioned as the preferred liberal-arts choice for pre-health students and the CHS will help expand health-related graduate outcomes with improved national and local networks, experienced advisors, direct connections to internships and job shadowing in the Cedar Rapids MedQuarter Regional Medical District, and dual degree and employment agreements.
Construction of the CHS will finish in the coming weeks. The project includes renovation of 3,671 square feet of existing space and a new addition of 6,671 square feet for a total of 10,342 square feet. Within the building, there is dedicated space for a state-of-the-art Anatomage 3D dissection table and additional space for Coe’s Syndaver. Classrooms were intentionally designed with large windows to bring in the surrounding natural light and greenery to help facilitate productive collaboration and discussion.
The $2.75 million building is funded by private gifts with several generous lead gifts from alumni and friends of the college, as well as significant support from local foundations, including from the Esther and Robert Armstrong Charitable Trust, the Roy J Carver Charitable Trust and a $700,000 challenge grant from the Hall-Perrine Foundation of Cedar Rapids.
Coe College offers superb academics and exciting co-curricular activities in a thriving urban setting that promotes student growth and success. Established in 1851, Coe has a national reputation for academic excellence enhanced by a student-centered, highly-supportive campus environment. Coe’s vibrant Cedar Rapids location provides an abundance of internships for students and career opportunities for graduates.
