Washington College Magazine
Science Center Opens
Washington College opened the new John S. Toll Science Center this January, jubilant that it had raised 100 percent of the $2.8 million required to secure a $750,000 challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation. The gifts and pledges will help pay for the new 45,000-square-foot facility—named in honor of Washington College’s 25th president—and for renovations to the Dunning/Decker Science Complex to begin later this year.
“It took a significant act of courage to accept a challenge to raise $2.8 million within nine months,” said College President Baird Tipson. “Our entire development staff and Dr. John Toll, who has worked tirelessly during his sabbatical year, deserve a huge congratulations for their success in meeting this challenge with the help and generosity of our alumni and Board.”
Still, the opening of the new facility was not without some “hiccups.”
“We opened on the first day of the spring semester, January 19, although we had originally planned to have it completed by late December,” said H. Louis Stettler, Senior Vice President of Finance and Management. Held up by construction delays, the opening was further delayed while the College awaited an occupancy permit from the State Fire Marshall’s Office, Stettler explained.
But that was just the beginning of a rocky start for science faculty and students. Even as the spring semester began, some furniture and equipment had yet to be installed, and the laboratory ventilation hoods weren’t operational. With the 94-seat lecture hall incomplete, science faculty are still teaching their introduction survey courses in Norman James Theatre.
“It’s unfortunate that we can’t just wave a magic wand to have all the inconveniences of construction disappear,” says Stettler, “but unfortunately this is the price we pay to build a state-of-the-art facility. The only option was to move between semesters. There are some bugs to work out in the new building, and laboratory space will be at a premium until renovations to the Dunning/Decker complex are completed.”
The Science Center, meant to house just the biology, chemistry and environmental studies departments, is temporarily pushed to its limits, accommodating psychology and physics teaching and research in two labs and two seminar rooms originally designated for the biology and chemistry programs. Displaced professors from physics and psychology are occupying a “Trailer Village” next to the Science Complex until renovations to the Dunning/Decker Complex are completed.
The official dedication of the John S. Toll Science Center is set for April 22.
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