Emmanuel Officially Breaks Ground on New Academic Science Center
September 27, 2007
Emmanuel College officially broke ground on its new Academic Science Center on Thursday, September 27th. Students, faculty, staff and friends of the College joined President Sister Janet Eisner, SND, Mayor of Boston Thomas M. Menino, City Councilor Michael Ross, State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez and Board of Trustees member James Roosevelt, Jr., Esq. in formally celebrating the undertaking. Outgoing Board Chair C. Michael Daley, College Chaplain and Director of Campus Ministry Fr. Stephen Boyle, President of the Alumni Association Noreen Dimond, Chair of the Faculty Senate Tom Wall, College Treasurer and Trustee Sister Anne Donovan, SND, Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Frank Scully, Jr., and Student Government Association President Adam Smith '08 were also part of the platform party.
The new four-floor, 47,500 square-foot Center, which will be located in the area adjacent to the College's historic Administration Building, is expected to advance Emmanuel's educational mission, as it reflects the College's goal of building distinctive academic programs in the liberal arts and sciences through leveraging its unique location in the Longwood Medical Area.
"The Academic Science Center has been designed to increase opportunities for interactive teaching, collaborative learning, to better prepare students in the sciences and other fields, and provide state-of-the-art classrooms for all disciplines," said Sister Janet. "This building represents the continuing transformation of Emmanuel College."
In welcoming all those to the ceremony, Sister Janet recalled how it was exactly five years to the day that the College broke ground on the Jean Yawkey Center, a building that, at the time, she anticipated would become a vital part of the College's campus.
"We hoped it would become the living room of our campus and indeed it has, pulsating with student activity for 20 hours a day," she said. "In a similar way, [the Academic Science Center] will be a living billboard for the College's strategic initiative to make science an integral part of our educational mission."
As a "green" building, the Center will emphasize sustainability through maximized energy efficiency. An underground parking lot, which will connect to the Jean Yawkey Center parking garage, will also allow for 120 extra parking spaces, all the while maintaining the amount of green space on campus.
The Center, designed by Goody Clancy and to be built by Walsh Brothers, Incorporated, is scheduled to be opened in 2009.
