bigpicture
GROWTH spurt arts of campus have taken wing, so to speak, over the past 18 months. The expansions and renovations to three buildings enhance the academic experience, take technology to new levels and most important, accommodate the needs of students in the 21st century.
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Computer Science Instructional Center Expansion of: College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences Where: North campus, south side of the A.V. Williams building. Size: 37,000 sq. ft. Purpose: Instruction and home of Center for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling. Features: 140-seat lecture hall equipped with video cameras to allow lectures to be broadcast over the Internet; classrooms with built-in video projectors, computers, laptop connections, wireless Internet access and a cutting-edge video conference capability. Funding: Public funding. Private funding of four classrooms. Contact: Mary Kearney, 301.405.0007
CSIC Chemistry Wing (unofficially, the “West Wing”) Expansion of: Department of Chemistry. Where: Facing Stadium Drive and connected to Chemistry Building. Size: 66,636 sq. ft. Purpose: Instruction and research; improved safety. Features: Three-floor wing includes
six organic chemistry labs (two more to follow) and research labs with ample hood space to filter noxious air. Funding: Public funding. Atrium funded privately. Contact: Steve Rokita, 301.405.1816
The park’s full design plan keeps ecology in mind. For instance, a rain garden will collect runoff from adjacent parking lots and filter the water before it reenters the Paint Branch Watershed.
Student-Designed Park Coming Soon FOR MOST STUDENTS, class
projects begin and end in class. But for some Maryland landscape architecture students, class projects begin in class and end on Route 1. A studentdesigned project for a five-acre North Gate Park at the Paint Branch Watershed has garnered more than $33,000 in grants
for design development and construction documentation from university, municipal and state agencies. Soon to be under way, the design for the park is set across from the College Park Volunteer Fire Station on both university and MarylandNational Capital Parks and
Planning Commission land. Students incorporated five landscape scenarios, including an orchard and a wildflower meadow, into their design that will seek to beautify the local environment, while incorporating methods to mitigate traffic associated with future planned residential development.—SLK
Baby Terrapin Saved by Photo Shoot RARELY DOES A cover girl start her career fresh out of the, um, egg.
the “West Wing” New Van Munching Hall Expansion of: Robert H. Smith School of Business. Where: South campus, off Mowatt Lane. Size: 103,300 sq. ft. Purpose: Unites
undergraduate and graduate classes in one building. Features: State-of-the-art classrooms, including a 250-seat auditorium and 129-seat lecture hall—each seat outfitted with power jacks; finance lab with electronic stock ticker; expanded career center facilities featuring 16 interview rooms. Funding: Primarily private funding. Leadership gift from Leo ’50 and Peggy Van Munching. Contact: Tom O’Rourke, 301.405.7134
However, it is just that entrance into the world that put one of eight new terrapin hatchlings on the cover of last fall’s debut issue of Terp magazine. A fortuitous decision to move the yet-to-hatch terrapins and their incubator for a photo shoot to Turner Hall at the university, from their home at the Wildfowl Trust-Horsehead Wetlands Center, probably saved their lives. Just days later, Tropical Storm Isabel destroyed Marguerite Whilden’s terrapin laboratory at the center. Not unlike expectant fathers, University Photographer John Consoli could not predict when he could capture the hatchlings’ debut on film. Whilden hopes people will remember the cute Terp cover baby and do what they can for terrapin preservation. “We won’t have baby hatchlings to enjoy because the species will be declared endangered by the year 2008,” Whilden worries. “At a time when the university is riding high in all areas, it would be a crime if we let our mascot slip into endangered territory.”—MB To reach Whilden about the terrapins, send a message to mwhilden@comcast.net, or call 410.757.0112.
“We won’t have baby hatchlings to enjoy because the species will be declared endangered by the year 2008,”Whilden worries. “At a time when the university is riding high in all areas, it would be a crime if we let our mascot slip into endangered territory.”
Finance Lab 4
TERP WINTER
2004
PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI
BOTTOM PHOTO BY JOHN T. CONSOLI; PARK RENDERINGS COURTESY OF JACK SULLIVAN
TERP WINTER
2004
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