Campus News

Showcasing Science

by Matt Getty

December 30, 2008

Students, trustees, faculty, staff and friends gathered in the atrium of the new science building for a celebrity shot.

Dickinson celebrated the most ambitious construction project in its history Oct. 24, as donors and their family members cut the ribbon to officially open the Rector Science Complex’s Stuart and James halls. The dedication, which showcased the new facility’s 90,000 square feet of state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories, drew more than 200 students, faculty members and alumni to toast the college’s commitment to science education.

“Today science possesses the singular strength to drive our economy, define the environmental quality of our life, monitor and improve our health and provide ... technological innovation,” said President William G. Durden ’71 before inviting the donors to cut the ribbon. “This building and the exciting work that will occur within its walls place Dickinson squarely in the midst of the most momentous developments of our time.”

The building, Durden and Board of Trustees Chair Jennifer Ward Reynolds ’77 noted, also reaches back to the past. Its dedication, said Reynolds, honors Dickinson founder Benjamin Rush’s original vision of making the sciences a central part of the liberal arts. “Dr. Rush would be amazed at what his college has created and how it will transform the way science is taught,” she said.

In addition to highlighting the building’s new cutting-edge facilities, which include a dozen teaching labs and four instrumentation suites, the event illuminated the complex’s support for Dickinson’s effort to revolutionize science education. The new halls, said Provost and Dean Neil Weissman, build on initiatives launched in the 1990s to develop more creative introductory science courses, focus on hands-on learning and teach across disciplines.

“The new halls carry forward the commitment to active pedagogies, with a heavy emphasis on labs and also make a bold step toward interdisciplinarity,” said Weissman. “By having faculty from different disciplines located together based on their shared research interests, this building is very bold in that regard.”

A student-hosted open house showed off that commitment to interdisciplinarity after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which also included comments from Trustee Sylvia Smith ’73. Inside the building, students and faculty gave more than a dozen presentations and demonstrations spanning the seven fields that share the new halls. Associate Professor of Biology Charles Zwemer showed how students use the human performance lab to study the effects of extreme cardiovascular exercise while, across the hall, biochemistry and molecular biology major Matt Manganaro ’09 discussed his research into fruit-fly genetics. Just a few rooms away, neuroscience majors Lauren Solometo ’10 and Elizabeth Jeffress ’09 explained how different sections of the brain operate and are affected by traumatic injury, while around the corner chemistry major Alejo Lifschitz ’10 showed off one of the new chemistry teaching labs.

In addition to providing a window into the exciting work under way in the new facility, the open house allowed donors and other attendees to hear firsthand what the building means to students and faculty. “These facilities, compared to Althouse …” said Manganaro, pausing to let a wide grin stretch across his face. “Oh my God, the difference is just tremendous.”

Beyond praising the building’s advanced labs and classrooms, however, students also stressed the importance of uniting most of the college’s science programs under the same roof in a space designed to foster collaboration. “Right now, I’m taking classes in the physics department, the math department and the chemistry department,” said Lifschitz. “I think it’s great the way they are all truly connected to each other, because we share so much space. I think it’s changed the way we see our classes in relation to each other.”

Following the open house, donors, trustees, students, professors and architects from the building’s designer, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, gathered for a reception and dinner. Highlights included comments from biology major Joshua Lichtman ’09 and a video on what the new halls bring to the science complex. The video (available at here, along with footage of the dedication) features students speaking candidly about the new facility’s impact on their studies and offers a heartfelt thank you to donors who contributed more than $35 million to fund the building.