University’s to Celebrate Science Center’s Completion

Sep 10, 2012
On Friday, Sept. 28, The University of Scranton is celebrating the completion of the Loyola Science Center with a dedication ceremony.
On Friday, Sept. 28, The University of Scranton is celebrating the completion of the Loyola Science Center with a dedication ceremony.

The University of Scranton is celebrating the completion of the Loyola Science Center – what University President Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., calls the “most significant building in our history” – with a dedication ceremony on Friday, Sept. 28, at 4 p.m. The ceremony will be held on the Dionne Campus Green opposite the Commons entrance to the science center. It will be followed by a reception and tours, which are free and open to the public.

The dedication kicks off a semester-long series of events, entitled “Celebrating the Loyola Science Center: Science as a Human Endeavor,” giving the campus and community an opportunity to experience the center firsthand. For more information about the center and a schedule of events, visit scranton.edu/LSCcelebration.

One of the most innovative science buildings in the country, the $85 million, 200,000-square-foot Loyola Science Center is the culmination of more than 15 years of planning and preparation. 
From the very beginning, University planners envisioned a science center that would serve as a place of learning for all who enter. Their goal was to foster a culture of science and bring all of the University’s sciences under one roof. The planners also believed the center should be more than just a classroom or laboratory building.

Father Quinn believes the Loyola Science Center accomplishes these objectives and will serve as “the academic heart of campus.”

“It will be a place of research, scholarship, teaching and discovery, a place to find God in all things,” said Father Quinn.

Built on the ideas of the Project Kaleidoscope, a program spearheaded by the National Science Foundation whose goal is to boost the quality of teaching and learning in the sciences, the Loyola Science Center features formal and informal learning spaces designed to promote discussion and debate.

The center’s layout provides a physical space that encourages integration among the traditional science, technology, engineering, mathematics programs, as well as the humanities, to drive the development of new teaching methods and engage students in practices that will prepare them for future challenges.

This facility also incorporates a dynamic, modern design that includes visible glass-walled laboratories, and is one of a kind in the way it advances collaboration among students with different interests.

“What we centered the building on was the students,” said George Gomez, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology who served as the project shepherd for the center. In that role, he coordinated the effort from design to implementation to the opening. “And we kept the students involved in the whole process. They gave us their impressions of successful workspaces, and helped design many of the spaces.”

The Loyola Science Center is a fitting home to the University’s rich legacy of science education, serving as a center of collaborative learning for all members of the campus and community. 

“As we celebrate the conclusion of this magnificent undertaking, we are filled with pride, but also deep gratitude for the vision, sacrifice, generosity and hard work that empowered us to realize our dream,” said Father Quinn.

For more information, visit scranton.edu/LSCcelebration.

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