CONWAY — When University of Central Arkansas trustees toured the school’s Lewis Science Center last summer, they were not impressed.
Now, a move is afoot to build a new complex that would be bigger, more technologically cutting-edge and more appealing to students, professors and the public.
Nothing is definite.
But Victor Green, the trustee recently elected to serve as board chairman in 2013, said last week that he believes the chances of UCA getting a new science center built and open by the fall of 2016 are “excellent.”
“I look forward to the proposal that they [administrators] bring to the table, to the board,” Green said. “I think it’s something that UCA needs, especially after touring the Lewis Science Center building on campus and the condition it’s in. I’m extremely hopeful that this can get done.”
A brochure presented to the board early this month proposed that the complex, tentatively expected to cost about $70 million, be located at the corner of South Donaghey Avenue and Bruce Street.
The complex would house the departments of biology, computer science, physics and astronomy, as well as science-education programs.
Special features would include a planetarium and theater. Interim Provost Steve Runge said the planetarium that’s envisioned would seat more people than the present one and would allow for a “wider variety of shows” that could attract more viewers.
The science complex could range anywhere from 140,000 square feet to 175,000 square feet, Runge said. That compares with the Lewis Science Center’s 120,000 square feet.
Runge, former dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, said the Lewis Science Center — built in two phases, in the mid-1960s and in 1987 — “is outdated in terms of size.”
“Every available portion is being used,” he said. “In particular, the 1960s portion has been having a lot of problems with” such things as its roof and electrical issues.
The brochure prepared for the board said the current facility “cannot support the state-of-the-art science programs that are necessary if UCA is to fulfill its mission and aid the state in increasing its economic competitiveness in the emerging technologybased global economy.”
Work in the center is hindered by inadequate utilities and a failing heating and cooling plant, among other things, the report added. Further, the center’s aging infrastructure has damaged new equipment, it said.
UCA President Tom Courtway said that when board members toured the Lewis Science Center last summer, “several trustees remarked that the science complex ... was in need of upgrade at a minimum,” as are some other campus facilities.
A big issue UCA must confront, of course, is money.
“We have to see what we can afford,” Runge said.
One problem, he said, is that science buildings are “the most expensive to build” because of requirements such as special ventilation and extensive water needs, as well as higher electrical demand and costs.
Runge and Courtway stressed that the discussion and research into a new science complex are just that, and that any such project is subject to board approval. And Runge noted that the university has other building needs, as well.
Runge said one problem is that “the prospects for getting help from the state [to build the complex] are pretty slim” because of the economy.
“If we were able to get significant help from the state like we have gotten for every other academic building ... that [would make] the discussion a lot easier,” Runge said.
Courtway said he expects trustees to continue reviewing not only the science-complex concept but also “the entire infrastructure on campus” over the next year to two years.
He said his goal is to give trustees “all the facts and information necessary to make an informed decision” on campus needs. “When they do, it is strictly up to them.”
Runge said “the biggest benefit” to having a new science complex would be that “we’ll be able to adjust how we teach science to these students and do it in a much more modern, collaborative” way and “move away form the traditional lecture format” to a “more hands-on” format. A new complex also would offer more space for research laboratories, he said.
Runge said the number of science students at UCA “has been growing over time.”
But, he said, “What I anticipate if this is what we decide to do, is that will only get better over time. Anytime you build a new facility in any area ... that’s very attractive to the students and the parents.”
Arkansas, Pages 17 on 12/23/2012