Science
building construction delayed
By Kari Schneider
On-line Forty-Niner
 Although
the new science building is starting to
look like a building, the construction is
two months behind schedule, according to
Scott Charmack, associate vice president
of Physical Planning and Facilities Management.
The scheduled completion date for the new
building was the end of January 2003. Now
the target date is mid to late April 2003.
“We are all very excited and looking forward
to [moving into the new science building],”
said Robert Loeschen, associate dean of
facilities and College of Natural Sciences
and Mathematics. “The facilities will be
modern, the equipment will be new, the instrument
rooms will be located close to the new teaching
and research space, and the building will
be air conditioned.”
Diana Fernandez, a microbiology major and
chemistry minor, agreed.
“I am disappointed that since I am graduating
in May, I won’t get to experience the benefits
of the new science building,” she said.
“I along with many other students and faculty
have been inconvenienced by the noise of
the construction, but I hope that the students
who do get to use it will benefit from it.”
The master plan for the older science buildings
includes major renovations, one at a time
to Peterson Hall 2 and 3. The Microbiology
Building will be left alone and Peterson
Hall 1 will become a general usage facility
for the university.
The new building will contain state-of-the-art
teaching and research laboratories for chemists,
biochemists and biologists.
“These facilities will not change the nature
of the teaching and research done here [on
campus], but they will allow for more flexibility,”
Loeschen said. “The new equipment provided
in this building will allow students to
be trained in the use of the most modern
of techniques.”
Fernandez agreed that the building will
provide more resources for students.
“The new science building is something that
science majors desperately needed,” Fernandez
said.
The naming of the new building will go to
the campus planning committee next month,
Charmack said. There has been no donor as
of yet.
Proposition 47, which is to be voted on
Nov. 5, is important to the finishing of
the new science building. The proposition
would provide $13.05 billion in bonds, issued
and repaid by the state of California for
the construction and modernization of elementary,
secondary and higher education facilities.
If the bond doesn’t pass it may impact the
opening of the new building, Charmack said.
“Our focus it to try and educate people
about how important the passage of this
bond is to us,” said Charmack.
Brian
Brannon/On-line Forty-Niner
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