New P&S Building Topped Off with Signed Beam

On Oct. 1, the final beams were ceremoniously placed atop the Medical and Graduate Education Building, P&S's signature building under construction at 104 Haven Ave. When those beams completed the facility's superstructure, the moment represented not only a construction milestone, but also an educational one: The 14-story state-of-the-art facility will advance how medicine is taught, learned, and practiced in the 21st century. The medical center community, looking forward to CUMC's interdisciplinary future represented by the facility, took part in the milestone by leaving its mark on the structure's final beam. Hundreds of signatures, personal notes, and quotations were scrawled across it by students, faculty, and staff.

During the previous week, the beam sat out in Alumni Auditorium, where for four days members of the community stopped by to leave their mark—and read those left by others.  A dental student and medical student who met and married at the medical center signed their names together. Others wrote quotations, such as "Education is Power." One person scrawled the names of two P&S students who passed away: Jonathan Tang and Jimmy Watts.

Signing the beam—and reading what others had written—had a sentimental significance for many visitors. For Cecilia Davis-Hayes, a member of the Class of 2017, signing the beam was a way of expressing a close connection to the building and to her class.

"Well, because the jackhammers wake me up at 6:45 in the morning, I feel a close connection to the building," she says and laughs. Then, more seriously: "This building is part of the legacy of our class. We're all so proud of our school. Signing this beam is a bonding thing. Doing this expresses that we will always have a connection with P&S."