NEWS RELEASE
Media Contact: Richelle Nielsen
(425) 602-3107 or rnielsen@bastyr.edu

BASTYR UNIVERSITY TO BREAK GROUND ON NEW STUDENT HOUSING PROJECT

Eleven cottages will house 132 student on University's Kenmore Campus

Kenmore, Wash. — Bastyr University President Daniel K. Church, PhD, is pleased to announce plans to develop new student housing on the University's Kenmore campus.

Bastyr will mark the start of construction with a special groundbreaking ceremony at 2 p.m. on May 8, 2009. The media and public are welcome to attend. Planned as a "student  village" and comprised of 11 cottage-style buildings, the new housing is designed to minimize impacts to the environment and fit into the campus' natural setting.

"Part of Bastyr University’s role as a leader in natural health arts and sciences education is to encourage and enable our students to live sustainably," Dr. Church said. "Providing students with eco-friendly, on-campus housing is a significant milestone in furthering our mission to enhance the health and well-being of the human community."

The LEED-registered village will be built on the northern edge of campus along the tree line and have the capacity to house a total of 132 students — 12 individual rooms in each three-story cottage. The cottages will be connected by a series of garden paths, courtyards and outdoor living spaces carefully designed to be energy efficient and mitigate impact to the local environment. Planned enhancements include the planting of native species to provide greater wildlife habitat.

With only 42 rooms currently available on campus, the University's principal objective with the new housing is to offer students — many of whom come from across the United States and 28 other countries — convenient housing that will minimize the number of commutes to campus. Other goals with the on-campus housing include: reducing pollution and traffic on local roads, creating a greater sense of community at Bastyr and further enabling students to become active members of the Kenmore community.

Plans call for each room in the cottages to include a private bath, while each cluster of 12 rooms will share a common great room, kitchen, study room, laundry room and storage.

ABOUT BASTYR UNIVERSITY
Bastyr University, located north of Seattle, Washington, is an accredited institution, internationally recognized as a pioneer in natural medicine. Bastyr is the largest university for natural health arts and sciences in the U.S., combining a multidisciplinary curriculum with leading-edge research and clinical training to educate future leaders in fields such as naturopathic medicine, acupuncture and Oriental medicine, and whole food nutrition. Founded in 1978 as the John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine, Bastyr University now offers more than 15 accredited degree and certificate programs. Bastyr was the nation's first natural health arts and sciences university to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Bastyr University Research Institute plays a key role in the growth of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research. The University's teaching clinic, Bastyr Center for Natural Health, offers quality natural health care to the greater Seattle community while providing essential clinical training for students. For additional information about Bastyr University and its teaching clinic, Bastyr Center for Natural Health, visit www.bastyr.edu or www.bastyrcenter.org.

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