Phoenix considers plans for biotech high school

May 21, 2003

By hammersmith

Talks are currently underway regarding the potential creation of a biotech high school in downtown Phoenix. The plan, which has received support from partners Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and the City of Phoenix, calls for transforming a part of the old Phoenix Union High School campus into the new science-focused facility.

“The campus is being built literally in the footprint of the old Phoenix Union,” Craig Pletenik, Phoenix Union High School District spokesman, told the Arizona Republic. “What used to be the center of education for this community could be again.”

Central to the plan is the renovation of Science Hall, a three-story building located at Seventh Street and Van Buren. The location should make it easy convenient to link the high school to the nearby planned headquarters of the Translational Genomics Research Institute and International Genomics Consortium.

Supporters are hopeful that the downtown facility will engage students’ interest in the health sciences at an early age. Those who choose careers in the bioscience and health fields could potentially intern at nearby leading health and research centers, ultimately serving to bolster workforce shortages while contributing to the advancement of Arizona biosciences.


More information:

Phoenix Union hall may be reborn as biotech school,” The Arizona Republic, 5/21/2003