STEM progresses through winter

Jake Bullington Digital Editor jacob.bullington@drake.edu @jakebullington

The flurry of construction is paying off for Drake and its contractors, no matter the temperature. The STEM buildings are on track to be completed by the fall of 2018. The connector building’s bricks are being stacked up, and Collier-Scripps Hall’s skeleton is nearly filled in.

Air ducts and electricity are now lined up, the outlines of classrooms are completed and the concrete is laid. Passersby can catch a glimpse of high-visibility vests on the roof of CollierScripps six days a week.

With only months left on the project, developers and the administration gave local media organizations, including the Times-Delphic, a walkthrough tour in mid-December to look at the structures’ progress.

Administration officials say they have noticed interest in the newly added majors, including data analytics and kinesiology, which the new STEM buildings will house.

The other new academic programs also include athletic training, occupational therapy

(OT) and endorsements for health, physical education and coaching.

President Marty Martin said that the new buildings “need to reflect the quality of the programs” that will be based out of them.

They are “cutting-edge programs that require cuttingedge facilities,” Martin said.

The connector building will clock in at around 55,000 square feet. The four floors will each have a specific academic focus, like neuroscience on the first floor and biodiversity on the fourth.

Collier-Scripps Hall will be a total of 45,000 square feet. The building will move education students from University Avenue to an on-campus home.

The mathematics department, computer science program and the Robert D. and Billie Ray Center will also occupy the space.

In addition to the two new buildings, the old university bookstore is being renovated for the OT program. Administrators have plans to also renovate Olin Hall to continue the STEM academic initiatives on campus, but the $13 million project has been delayed.

Martin said that the university would take this proposal to the board of trustees for approval. The total cost for the new construction projects encompassing the STEM@DRAKE initiative is $52 million.

With this new emphasis on STEM, Drake is adding nearly 80 faculty and staff offices and 10 new research labs to the university’s recruiting arsenal.

Provost Sue Mattison and Martin hope these buildings will be a draw for a new crop of scientists and educators from high schools in Iowa and across the U.S.

It’s already begun to draw students with over 100 data analytics and 18 kinesiology majors declared at Drake as of last December.

Deputy Provost Keith Summerville, who led the media tour in December, said the STEM buildings would be a “real infusion of human talent” to the Des Moines area. Summerville added that the university has seen increased interest in the new and existing STEM academic programs.

As of last Dec., the projects are still on schedule according to Summerville, with hopes to see the projects completed by autumn.