The University of Kansas School of Pharmacy Building Committee plans to build a new building on West Campus to bring all its students and faculty under one roof. The school is mostly housed in Malott Hall, which was built to accommodate about 250 students. With more than 600 students now enrolled in the school, a bigger and more up-to-date building is necessary.

A committee of faculty and students with the school are working together to find funding for a new pharmacy building on West Campus within the next five years.

“We’re trying to adapt to rooms built for an old program and it’s just not working,” Kenneth Audus, dean of pharmacy, said.

In 1981, the school took up residence in the newest wing of Malott.

A previous five-year program was changed to a six-year doctorate program, and the school has increased research activity.

Audus said the growth has done much for the school’s prestige and research, but has wreaked havoc on resources. Lab space is inefficient and faculty and resources are divided among the seven buildings the school occupies, Audus said.

Having faculty in so many different places has caused problems, Audus said. Faculty rush between buildings to teach and do research, and students have a hard time reaching their professors.

“Space is dictating how we teach and that’s not how it should be done,” he said.

A new building would bring all research and teaching together for the first time since the late ’80s, Audus said.

Funds for the new building would come from alumni, whom he began meeting with a year ago when he became dean.

No definite plans for the new building have been drawn up, Audus said.

The school’s work in research and need for teaching space has made the new building a big issue for students and faculty, said Jake Stolz, Colwich fourth-year pharmacy student and class president.

“When I sit in on meetings, all the faculty are really excited,” Stolz said.

Stolz is one of three class presidents for pharmacy students on the board.

He said being split up is a pain for students as well as faculty, and both are happy about the prospect of a new building.

There are student concerns about parking and the availability of food services on West Campus, but Stolz said those problems will be worked out during the next several years.