The Whitworthian

Issue date: 4/15/08 Last Updated: 4/16/08

Media Credit: Courtesy of Whitworthian archives Senior Kailey Nelson (left) and alumnus Seth Wall (right) do research in the Eric Johnston Science Center April 5, 2007. [Click to enlarge]

NOTE: This article contains a correction.

Funding for the new science center will be one of the topics of discussion at this week's Board of Trustees meetings.

Brian Benzel, vice president for finance and administration, said the board finance committee will meet April 17 and will be taking a recommendation for a funding strategy to the whole board April 18.

"This will be an important [meeting] for moving forward on the science center project," Benzel said.

Michael Le Roy, vice president for Academic Affairs, said most of the discussion about design took place in the fall and that future discussion during board meetings will focus on funding strategies.

Sometime next school year, the board will have to give the go-ahead to break ground and then will no longer be directly involved, Le Roy said.

He said the design committee will have to justify the expenditure to the board.

"We have tried to be frugal and careful [financially]," Le Roy said.

Benzel said there is a desire to complete the project soon in order to combat project inflation and provide students access to the new facilities.

Lynn Noland, director of sponsored programs, said a new center has been on the list of priorities for a long time.

Le Roy said Whitworth's 40-year-old science facilities do not look good to high school students and parents, as compared to newer science facilities, such as a new building at Seattle Pacific University, which opened in 2003.

The Eric Johnston Science Center was constructed in 1967 though a grant from the Eric Johnston Foundation, according to the 2001-03 Whitworth course catalog.

"I can't find a competitor with a more outdated facility," Le Roy said. "This is the most urgent and pressing need."

The center was extensively renovated during the 1998-99 school year and renovations cost $2.83 million, according to the 2005-2010 strategic plan.

Deanna Ojennus, assistant professor of chemistry*, said enrollment has grown exponentially since the center opened in 1967.

There were 58 biology, chemistry and physics majors in 1967 and 276 in 2006, Ojennus said.

"Whitworth is growing with time," Ojennus said. "The number of majors in the sciences has more than doubled in just the last 10 years."

Phase I of the project includes the construction of a three-story center on the site of the old fine arts building, which will house the biology and chemistry departments, said Steve Thompson, director of capital projects.

The old fine arts building will be torn down in spring 2009 when ground-breaking starts, Benzel said.

Benzel said the center will be open when the current freshmen are seniors. Phase I of the project will cost about $37 million, he said.

Ojennus said the current center is about 35,000 square feet, while the new center will be about 60,000 square feet.

"It's a big building that will change the complexity of the North side of campus," said Robert Misel, an architect from Miller-Hull, an architectural firm based in Seattle. Misel is involved with the project.

Miller-Hull will work with a contractor, who will be hired within one month, Benzel said.

A search committee conducted interviews with possible contractors April 11, Noland said.

Throughout the design process, architects have met individually with each department at least every other month, Noland said.

Also, senior chemistry major Thayer Wild is on the design committee, Noland said.

Thompson said some faculty members have discussed the proposal with students.

"There has been a significant level of involvement with advanced students in looking at the blueprints," junior biology major Derek Weyhrauch said.

Phase II, which is scheduled to begin within one year of the completion of Phase I, will include the renovation of the existing center as well as constructing a 16,000 square foot addition, Benzel said.

Phase II is tentatively scheduled for completion in fall 2011 and will cost about $18 million, Benzel said.

The physics department will remain in the current center, due to lower infrastructure requirements, Le Roy said.

The computer science and math departments may move into the current center, Noland said.

Le Roy said the design committee did a 20-year projection of enrollment in the sciences, starting in 2006.

He said the projection factors in a 3-percent growth rate for the first few years after the center opens.

Craig Tsuchida, associate professor of biology and chair of the biology department, said the new science center will be the largest, most expensive building in Whitworth's history.

Contact Julie Wootton at julie.wootton@whitworthian.com.

Read related article: "University places emphasis on goal of increased science research"

*In the original posting, Deanna Ojennus' position was incorrectly identified. Ojennus is the assistant professor of chemistry.

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