Waynesburg’s $23 million science hall renovations progressing
Waynesburg University President Doug Lee looks out a window in one of the newly-renovated classrooms inside Stewart Science Hall.
One of the newly equipped classrooms on the chemistry floor. Each station can seat up to four with moveable hoods above each.
The once faded yellow Stewart Science Hall now has a new exterior with large windows in every classroom, an elevator shaft with lobbies on each floor to give students a place to gather and a new brick and sandstone facade.
A look out of one of the large windows in one of the new classrooms on the chemistry floor. The view looks out over the borough of Waynesburg.
WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg University’s renovation of Stewart Science Hall – the school’s largest monetary endeavor in its 156-year history – is continuing to progress.
The $23 million project has been in the works since 2012 and the completion date is expected in 2017 or 2018.
People passing by can already see the changes that have occurred to the building’s exterior, and there are even more changes taking place inside.
“The building was state-of-the-art when it was built in 1963. That was a long time ago,” Waynesburg University President Doug Lee said during a recent tour of the building. “It was time to upgrade and bring us into the modern era.”
The project was divided into phases to help ensure the building could still be used as efficiently as possible by the students and faculty during the renovation, according to Terry Sattler, director of facilities planning and management. Phase one and two are complete and focused on the exterior of the building, getting it up to par with the master plan for the university’s architectural design, Sattler said.
“The model for a lot of what we do is Miller Hall,” Lee said of the university’s flagship building. “It is based on that classic Waynesburg University look.”
This alignment includes dark red brick, which is mortared in a way that distinguishes each brick from one another, along with raw, brown sandstone and woodwork features. The design matches newly constructed buildings, such as Roberts Chapel and the Center for Research and Economic Development.
Also included in phase one and two was the renovation of the science hall’s fifth floor known as the chemistry floor.
“Not only have we upgraded the building, but the equipment inside, too,” Lee said.
Evonne Baldauf, chair of the Department of Chemistry, said that the new technology, equipment and layout of the entire floor are already having positive effects on the students and faculty.
“(Students) have an excitement about being there. They really just enjoy and take pride in that new space,” Baldauf said.
She also said that from a professional standpoint, the new fume hoods, state-of-the-art equipment and floor-to-ceiling windows create a place for instructors where they can continue to improve their department and the learning experience.
“We have the space and the necessary utilities to have all of our instruments up and running at their greatest capacity and potential,” Baldauf said. “This is now a designated space where students can take ownership of their research and what they are doing.”
Currently, work is under way on the third and fourth phases. This includes finishing the third-floor computer science, physics, math and ecology area, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of this summer. The fourth floor will be completed in December and be ready for the spring semester. The third floor will be open to students and faculty this coming fall.
The plans for phase six shifted a little, Sattler said.
“Technically, the master plan of the renovation has a phase six, which includes both the first and second floors. We are currently actually rethinking that as far as maybe dividing that up into two separate phases,” Sattler said. “Instead of trying to squeeze in two floors being finished in one summer, we will maybe choose to do that over two summers.”
If they continued with the master plan, they would not have large enough classroom sizes to accommodate the nursing program.
“Our nursing program is so robust that we just don’t have the extra space to relocate the whole department to do both floors at the same time,” Sattler said.
The university continues to solicit for fundraising for the $23 million renovation project, recently receiving a pledge from Community Bank. Lee said these donations show this building is not only for the students, but for the community.
“Waynesburg University is very connected with the community,” Lee said. “We look for opportunities to reach out to the community that make sense to us and make sense to the community.”
He pointed to the many camps that have recently taken place in Stewart, such as the CSI and STEM camps. Lee also said that the nursing simulation labs have been used on 15 different occasions by local registered nurses working to re-certify, learn and practice.
“That’s a huge resource to the community that’s there and to have a great building that houses all of this is important,” Lee said.