Wesleyan College broke ground on its $12.5 million Munroe Science Center Friday, March 3, 2006 at 11am. The groundbreaking of this highly anticipated center marks the beginning of construction for Wesleyan’s first academic building in more than 40 years.
According to Wesleyan College President Ruth Knox, “The ceremony celebrated our official groundbreaking, but more importantly it was an opportunity to honor the three Munroe sisters and their truly remarkable contributions to Wesleyan.” Some 25 members of the extended Munroe family gathered together at the ceremony in honor of Julia Munroe Woodward ’34; Margaret Munroe Thrower ’35 and her husband Randolph Thrower; and the legacy of Mary Gray Munroe Cobey ’34. The Munroe family hails from Quincy, FL where the three sisters’ father wisely invested (and advised local farmers to do the same) in a fledgling company called Coca-Cola in the early 1900s. Wesleyan is among many beneficiaries of the family’s generosity and commitment to education.
The new state-of-the-art science facility will serve an increasing number of Wesleyan students enrolled and majoring in biology, chemistry, psychology, and computer sciences while also addressing the great need throughout our state and nation for women who are skilled in medicine, scientific research, computer technology, and mathematics. In addition, the building will house the college’s new Center for Women in Science and Technology. This center within the new Munroe Science Center will support Wesleyan's Spectacles Camp,two one-week residential math and science camps for middle school girls designed with activities and opportunities to encourage interest in math and the sciences; KISMET (Kids in Science, Math, Engineering and Technology), an outreach program designed for K-12 girls that is currently working with Weaver Middle School; and Science in the Summer, providing year round research opportunities for Wesleyan’s students to “fast track” pre-professional majors.
The Munroe Science Center will be prominently located on Wesleyan’s front campus between the two major academic buildings—Tate and Taylor Halls. In addition to its high visibility, this central location enhances the facility’s functionality, accessibility, and sensitivity to the surrounding landscape. Scheduled for completion in the summer of 2007, the center will open to students for the 2007 fall semester.
According to Wesleyan CFO Rick Maier, “Generous gifts provided by individual donors, foundation grants, and government funding have ensured the completion of this project within the $12.3 million in-hand budget.” Designed to house 11 individual teaching laboratories and nine separate research laboratories, the new facility will encourage faculty/student collaboration on research projects, contain interactive laboratories for specific experimentation, and offer individualized instruction in an environmentally efficient and safe setting. State-of-the-art laboratories include cell biology, ecology, physiology, immunology, and instrumental analysis labs as well as general biology, physics, and chemistry labs. While teaching laboratories will serve as classrooms, a small seminar room and two technologically advanced classrooms also will be used for instruction. Among its many specialty science spaces, the new facility will include an astronomy observation deck, a greenhouse and a community learning center. The design provides a high-tech space that is both functional and flexible, is environmentally efficient and safe, is visually appealing and inviting, and encourages community and collaboration.
According to Wesleyan Associate Professor of Biology Jim Ferrari, Ph.D., “The design provides a high-tech space that is both functional and flexible, is environmentally efficient and safe, is visually appealing and inviting, and encourages community and collaboration.” Ferrari is serving as the Project Shepherd acting as a liaison between the science faculty and the architectural design team. “The 42,000 square-foot facility dramatically increases our space and will result in enhanced research capabilities,” he added.
The Atlanta-based architectural firm of Lord, Aeck and Sargent was selected to design the comprehensive science center. The firm’s Architecture for Science Studio designs scientific, medical research, and teaching facilities using innovative materials, functional, user-friendly layouts, and strict attention to environment and biosafety standards. Several of their recently completed science facilities include teaching/research science buildings at Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Davidson College, College of Charleston, Darton College, and the University of Alabama. The firm is working closely with Macon’s Dunwody-Beeland Architects, designers of the college’s original 1928 master plan, to ensure that the new facility will be architecturally and structurally compatible with the college’s existing historic, stately buildings.
Immediately upon the completion of the Munroe Science Center, Wesleyan will begin renovating Taylor Hall, the current—but overcrowded—science facility, built in 1928. Upon completion, Wesleyan’s Comprehensive Science Plan will meet the growing interest and demands of our students by offering high-tech and hands-on science education, preparing women for professional careers in the sciences and technology, reaching out to our community, especially girls in grades K-12, and improving the economy of our area by educating highly-skilled professionals who will live and work here.