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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/27/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
August 24, 2004 UWGB gives labs a friendly face-lift Larger classrooms, new technology included in project By Cynthia Hodnett After a two-year remodeling project, the building now has more lab space
for teaching, technology for learning and research and multicolored decor
complete with art work.
University officials said the final cost of the project is $15 million.
Final touches to the building are in the works to welcome students for
the fall semester, which begins Sept. 2.
"The (former) facilities weren't as pristine as they are now —
there are new instruments and more space for professor research," said
Zachary Brown, a 27-year-old UWGB senior and chemistry major. "The facilities
weren't state of the art, which is what you encounter when you go out
into the work force and at graduate schools. They're new instruments there
now."
The building, which was about 80,000 square feet, was remodeled, adding
a four-story, 24,000-square-foot structure.
It includes 14 teaching labs for several science-related programs, including
biology, chemistry, earth science and ecology.
Each lab will accommodate 24 students. Labs for teaching and research
are designed around the concept of research communities that foster collaboration
between students and instructors.
"The whole thing is designed around getting students into the building,
keeping them into the building and letting them work with each other and
faculty," said Dean Rodeheaver, assistant chancellor for planning and
budget. "That's why the color scheme is different from other buildings
on campus, trying to make this look like this isn't a science building."
The Laboratory Sciences building, which opened in 1969, was one of the
campus's first.
UWGB officials said in its original form, the building had lab space
that could accommodate up to 16 students but not enough to accommodate
the current average class size of 24.
John Lyon, associate professor of natural and applied sciences, along
with Donna Ritch, chairwoman of human biology and nutritional sciences,
were members of the planning committee.
"The students really like the feel of openness (inside the building)
... they have more areas to spread their work out, a place to put an instrument
that might have a computer," Lyon said. "The (original) place was basically
designed for test tubes, maybe some burners and a hotplate. Now, we have
the flexibility of when it (science) changes again, we accommodate those
changes."
Besides more lab space, the work centralizes science-related equipment
that was in other areas on campus, including Rose and Wood halls. Some
floors of Lab Sciences remained open during the remodeling.
Carried out by Miron Construction Co. of Neenah, the project is the
second in a series of recent efforts by the university to correct space
issues in campus buildings, Rodeheaver said.
The first was Mary Ann Cofrin Hall, a 12,000-square-foot classroom and
office building that opened in fall 2001.
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