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University Breaks Ground on New Science Center
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he University of Scranton presented plans for the largest capital project in its 121-year history – an approximately 200,000 square foot unified science center - at a groundbreaking ceremony on campus in the spring. The new unified science center represents the largest capital project in the 121-year history of the university. It integrates a new structure on what is now a parking lot along Monroe Avenue and Ridge Row into a renovated space in the Harper McGinnis Wing of St. Thomas Hall. The facility incorporates today’s most innovative science teaching techniques into a dynamic, modern design that includes inviting spaces for student/faculty collaboration, visible glass-walled laboratories and the efficiencies of using shared instrumentation. “The new science center matches the unparalleled excellence of the science programs for which The University of Scranton is so well known and will serve all our students through the engaging and innovative pedagogies fostered by this design,” said Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., University president. As part of Scranton’s Jesuit liberal arts curriculum, all undergraduate students are required to take at least two natural science courses.
The unified science center will provide the university’s departments of biology, chemistry, computing sciences, physics/electrical engineering and mathematics with classroom, office, laboratory and meeting spaces. This building will also serve several interdisciplinary programs, including neuroscience and biochemistry, cell and molecular biology. The University expects the new building to enhance further its already stellar reputation for preparing students for careers in medicine, health care and the sciences. Of the 353 senior applicants to medical schools over the last nine years, an average of 81 percent were accepted, well above the national average. According to the 2008 NSF Survey on Earned Doctorates, in 2006 (the most recent year reported), Scranton ranked 9th out of 568 master’s institutions that reported data for alumni who earned doctoral degrees in life sciences, and 37th of 568 in the physical sciences. The unified science center is among the transformational building projects of the University’s $100 million capital campaign. “I am also grateful to our benefactors who have already made significant and special commitments to science education at the University. Our efforts to raise funds for this project will continue,” said Fr. Pilarz.x
Housed in Center: Unified ScienceAcademic CenterDepartments Quick Facts Biology, Chemistry, Computing Sciences, Physics/Electrical Engineering and Mathematics
Science center rendering
200,000 Sq. Ft. 150,000 Sq. Ft. of New Construction • Approximately 50,000 Sq. Ft. of Renovation • Groundbreaking: May 14, 2009 • Expected Occupancy Date: Fall Semester 2011 • Number of Floors: 4 • Approximately • Approximately
Science center rendering
Design/Features: • Designed for Silver LEED certification (“Green” construction) • A 180-seat lecture hall for symposia & seminars • Several faculty/student research & meeting areas • A faculty meeting room modeled after the tea room at Oxford University. • A rooftop green house for research • An atrium & a vivarium • 22 classrooms & seminar rooms • 34 laboratories • 80 offices
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