By Susannah Waite, Associate Editor
School officials have a building proposal for a new math and science building on campus.
Terry Conley, associate dean of the Petree College of Arts and Sciences, has been working on plans for about five and a half years.
“The chemistry labs are in need of extensive upgrading,” he said.
Dawson-Loeffler Math and Science building was built in 1954 and has not been renovated since 1989.
“I’m sure our chemistry labs don’t meet current standards,” Conley said. “Especially for room ventilation and fume hoods.”
Most mechanical aspects predate the 1989 renovation, which was mainly cosmetic.
“We’ve worked to make Loeffler look good,” Conley said. “But, at the end of the day it’s still old.”
Officials have three different proposals for the university.
— Plan A would be demolishing Loeffler, Conley said.
“It would probably cost about $40 million for a new building all together,” he said.
— Plan B would focus on additional classroom space in a proposed smaller building.
“This building would house primarily chemistry and biology labs,” Conley said. “This would cost the university about $25 million.”
— Plan C would be to add a lab annex to the existing building and would cost about $15 million.
“Right now there is no projected date for construction,” he said. “We need a new building, but we need the money in hand to start building.
“The university is not going to borrow money either.”
The university has about 100 science majors.
“I’m not sure how a new facility would effect growth in this department,” Conley said. “We would really like to see our student numbers in the 250 range.”
Kristen Clark, cell/molecular biology junior, said the chemistry labs are inconvenient.
“It is an older building,” she said. “The problem with the chemistry labs is they are missing a lot of supplies and you have to search through all the lab spaces just to find what you are looking for.”
This article originally appeared in the Jan. 12 issue of The Campus newspaper.
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