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Crowd gathers to put
spade
to $17 million Science
Center
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind.
(Nov. 14, 2003) -- More than 300 people - including faculty, students,
trustees, staff, townsfolk and 160 benefactors - gathered Friday, Nov.
14 to give thanks and turn a shovel of earth to celebrate the
groundbreaking on a $17 million Science Center at Manchester College.
The wind was brisk but the smiles were warm and wide.
"This accomplishment is
made possible by great offering of finances and spirit," college
President Parker G. Marden told the crowd. "So many have given
generously in some combination of their time, talent and treasure. Some
have done so sacrificially."
The philanthropists
include Lilly Endowment Inc. Manchester College will not go into debt or
raise tuition to pay for construction of the 85,600-square-foot Science
Center - the largest building in the history of the college. The college
will pay cash, Marden said. General contractor R.L. Turner Corp. of
Indianapolis already has begun moving equipment onto campus, aiming
toward a summer 2005 completion.
While Manchester College
is building a new facility, it builds on an already sturdy science
program, one rich in accomplishment - from nationally recognized medical
school admission rates to graduating the inventor of Teflon (Dr. Roy J.
Plunkett) to a Nobel Prize winner (Dr. Paul J. Flory). Scores of
science teachers, scientists, environmentalists, and medical and
psychology professionals got their start at Manchester College.
"Even in a 40-year-old
facility, our program measures up and even surpasses those offered in
bigger universities with bigger, better facilities," said senior biology
chemistry major Amy Minnicus of Delphi, Ind., to applause. "The
professors and the students here are committed to their work, whether
that is teaching, learning, or both. I am awed at the willingness of
our professors to go beyond their duties to help students learn. I am
also amazed at the hours of hard work that students put into their
classes. I am impressed with what we have been able to do with the
resources we have had to this point. The new building will strengthen
an already solid program by allowing us to reach our full potential."
All students attending
Manchester College must complete science coursework to graduate. The
independent liberal arts college has 1,170 students from 29 states and
33 countries. For more information about the college, visit
www.manchester.edu, where you also can click on a live 24-hour web
cam of the Science Center construction site.
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