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Longwood dedicates future science building
Longwood's future science building was dedicated with a ceremony May 9 in which it was touted as a place where "the spirit of collaboration will flourish." Due to stormy weather, a planned groundbreaking ceremony had to be moved at the last minute from the site at High Street and Griffin Boulevard to Jeffers Auditorium in Stevens Hall, the 52-year-old science facility that is being replaced. Regardless, Longwood officials expressed their delight that work on the long-awaited building is nearly at hand. "It is now Longwood's time to start construction on a new science building that will bring us out of the 'science museum' we are currently occupying and move us toward a state-of-the-art facility that will provide the quality academic space that our students and faculty deserve," President Patricia Cormier told an audience that included several members of the Longwood Board of Visitors and Virginia Senator Frank M. Ruff Jr., whose district includes the University. The four-story, 71,804-square foot building will front on High Street between Jarman Auditorium and Griffin Boulevard. The T-shaped building (the top of the T will face High Street) will have 23 classrooms and laboratories, 47 faculty offices, and additional research space. "This new facility will provide sufficient classrooms, labs, and research space to allow both our undergraduate and graduate students and our faculty to teach, learn, explore and conduct research that will impact the Commonwealth, the nation and the world," Dr. Cormier said. The overall project is expected to cost $17.6 million and to be finished by April 2005. A contract is expected to be awarded in late June, with work expected to begin in July. "It was in 1997 that Longwood first approached the Commonwealth of Virginia about our need for a suitable, safer science building," Dr. Cormier said. "In 1999 Governor Gilmore and the General Assembly approved money for the planning of a new science facility and in 2000 the new science building funding was approved. And, since 2000, the funding has been given and taken away several times before being 'really given' to us to spend. So now, here in 2003, we are finally able to move forward on this project. I thought this day would never arrive." Dr. David Buckalew, chair of the Department of Natural Sciences, expressed his "sincere gratitude for and delight in the University's strong commitment toward the sciences...This new building will stand on a corner of the campus. As you know, a corner is a point where converging sides meet, and on this corner the spirit of collaboration will flourish. This building will be a point where the human spirit, wisdom and purpose converge - a part of the World Wide Web made of brick and mortar that links people, ideas and values together. All of these ingredients will serve the academic vitality of this institution in the coming decades." The coordinators of the four disciplines within Natural Sciences - Dr. Tony Palombella (Biology), Dr. Melissa Rhoten (Chemistry), Dr. Joseph Garcia (Earth Science/Geology) and Dr. Charles Ross (Physics and Pre-Engineering) - also spoke during the ceremony.
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