Edinboro University prepares to renovate Cooper Hall, its main science building, next year with $25.5 million on hand – almost all the money it needs for a project that the school is billing as northwest Pennsylvania’s “finest academic science building.”
With a goal of moving into the space in early 2012, the project represents an important investment in science and technology education for the state of Pennsylvania. All its funding to date has come from state sources, including a special public improvement grant of $1.5 million made through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and delivered to the school last week by State Representative John Evans of Sadsbury Township. However, the school expects to raise an additional $3 million from other sources, including private gifts, according to Jeff Pinski, associate director of public relations.
The project includes the complete makeover of 76,000 square feet in the existing building and an addition of 35,000 square feet of new space. The added space will contain not only new classrooms but also state-of-the-art laboratories for faculty and students. The original hall currently houses the biology & health services, chemistry, and geosciences departments. After the project is completed, the physics and technology department, which is now housed in a separate location, will join these other departments in the renovated complex.
The Cooper Hall project, one of several major construction efforts being pursued to meet Edinboro’s enrollment needs, will incorporate green technologies, including the development of a new geothermal field to provide all cooling and heating needs, according to Michael Hannan, associate dean of the School of Science, Management, and Technology.
That aspect of the project is being advised by a Committee on Alternative Energy and Sustainability made up of science faculty who are identifying other ways to make the building a showcase of environmental design.
Sources: Edinboro University, Jeff Pinski, Michael Hannan
Writer: Joseph Plummer
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