BY ALEX WARD, Staff Reporter
Central has begun construction on the new Science Building located west of the SURC and is expected to finish the project in 2016.
The end result of this $63 million science building, Science Phase II is that it will house both the physics department and geological studies department, as well as the Center for Excellence in Science and Math Education.
Due to growing enrollment in the physics department, Andy Piacsek, physics department chair, is especially looking forward to having more classrooms which will expand the program.
“We’ve reached capacity and we might have to start turning away majors,” Piacsek said.
The number of declared physics majors has quadrupled from 20 to 80 students in the last six years. Within the building, there will be extra offices for new professors and graduate assistants. There will be at least one or two new professors or assistants in each department.
Science Phase II is being built specifically for geology and physics. The laboratories that are going to be in the building are designed for those programs, not any other sciences.
Even though the building will be bigger, the program will not offer new classes. Instead, they will offer more sections for the current classes.
The new building will include a planetarium and a new telescope. Kirk Johnson, dean of the College of the Sciences, believes that both of these additions to campus will help the school grow.
“It is an advertisement for our school. We used to have the chimps but now that they are gone, we will have this brand new building,” Johnson said.
With Science Phase II, the geological studies department will be housed in one building. Currently, the geological studies department is split up into Lind Hall and Hebeler Hall.
“The geology department is fragmented right now, that is one benefit for this building,” Joanne Hillemann, manager of facilities planning & construction, said.
Bill Yarwood, Central facilities director, is excited for the new building being constructed.
“For the first time, this building is completely funded, it’s kind of a big deal,” Yarwood said.
A major benefit for the new building is that there will be modern technology not available in Lind and Hebeler Halls. Lind hall was built in the Truman era while Hebeler Hall was built in the 1930s.
Yarwood and Hillemann said they expect to have everything moved into the building in 2016.
