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Science Complex Groundbreaking
This is an extraordinary day for Dickinson College . Today, we break
ground for the most ambitious and potentially "useful" building project in our
history-the Keystone Phase of our newly conceived Science Campus. The Keystone
Phase will be constructed adjacent to Tome Hall, the first phase of the overall
project, and will consist of two additional halls. This Phase will be followed
at a later date by the construction of the Capstone Phase, a fourth hall. This
integrated facility, together with Althouse Hall and potentially Dana Hall, will
support our visionary, nationally recognized science program and serve as a
defining model of undergraduate science study and research for the 21 st
century.
With this action today, we are taking a major step toward
realizing the historic vision for a distinctively American liberal arts
education initiated by our founder, Dr. Benjamin Rush. As a physician, Rush
instinctively understood the importance of science in a liberal arts curriculum.
For Rush, science was to play a central organizing role in Dickinson 's course
of study. It was the sciences along with the study of modern languages, Rush
believed, that would help students make connections between existing and
emerging disciplines, global connections that would lead ultimately to the
creation of new knowledge and new frontiers of intellectual inquiry.
Rush knew that scientific discovery would become a central and highly useful
force in the development of the new nation, driving economic expansion,
improving public health, and fueling America's innate passion for innovation. As
the future citizen leaders of the new democracy, Dickinson students would gain
the best preparation through a liberal arts curriculum that not only included,
but also integrated the sciences. As we stand at the threshold of a new century
that will be dominated by advances in scientific discovery, Rush's vision has
never seemed more prescient.
Our faculty has created a progressive
science curriculum appropriate for the challenges and opportunities of the 21 st
century. This building will provide them with a facility that will allow their
energy, creativity and intellectual curiosity-and that of their students-to grow
and thrive. The Keystone Phase of the Science Campus will assert-through
architectural design and academic content-the centrality of science in a
distinctively American liberal arts education and, specifically, the centrality
of science to the mission of Dickinson College .
At Dickinson, our
approach to a liberal arts education has been made more distinctive by the
unique and meaningful way we have integrated science into our overall course of
study. Our emphasis on active pedagogy, our quick willingness to embrace
cross-disciplinary explorations and our insistence on including our science
faculty and students in our global mission set us apart from our peers. Science,
at Dickinson , mirrors our total academic experience.
Creating the
vision for a three-phased Science Campus-not to mention defining and refining
the endless details that will make it a reality-has required the talent,
tenacity and energy of many, many individuals. I must thank, as Provost Weissman
will, the science faculty and the students who gave countless hours of service
on the science building steering committee. They are to be commended for their
passion, their patience and, most of all, their perseverance in participating in
this process. And they are to be applauded for their flexibility and ultimate
trust, for contributing their knowledge and expertise, and for their willingness
to continue monitoring this project until completion.
Vice President
Nick Stamos must be heartily commended for his leadership as he has steadily
marshaled this project from conception to design to groundbreaking. Nick, of
course, has been ably assisted by Associate Vice President Ken Shultes and many
others in the Facilities Division.
We must also extend our deep
appreciation to Fred Bean, the Carlisle Borough Manager; Michael Kaiser,
Carlisle Director of Public Works; and Alicia Reiter, Carlisle Planning, Zoning
and Codes Manager, as well as Carlisle Borough Council, Don Grell, President.
These individuals have shared in our dream and have worked quietly and
cooperatively to secure the zoning requirements and permits to make it a
reality.
And finally, I must extend my most sincere gratitude to
trustees Byron Koste, Sylvia Smith and the other members of the Committee on
Facilities for their extraordinary contribution in both time and expertise. They
have been with us every step of the way, providing wise counsel, enthusiasm,
encouragement and when appropriate, a healthy dose of caution. We would not be
here today without their strong guidance. I must also extend personal thanks to
General David Meade for his enthusiastic conversations with me about the project
and its execution, conversations that I know will continue and to which I look
forward.
I would now like to ask Provost Weissman to make a few
remarks.
Provost Weissman - Thank and acknowledge faculty;
remarks on curricular impact of new facility
Dusty Rhoads - Remarks on the
artistic vision and the client-architect partnership
Jennifer Reynolds -
New era in philanthropy for Dickinson College
After Jennifer Reynolds
speaks, President returns to podium. It is my distinct pleasure
to acknowledge those individuals who, through their remarkable philanthropic
support, make our Science Campus a reality. By associating their names with our
new facilities, they will be honored in perpetuity for their foresight and
generosity by generations of Dickinsonians to come.
Before acknowledging our most recent donors, I want to share for the
first time publicly how we plan to honor Dr. Ben James, Class of 1934. The
second hall of the building for which we break ground today, will retain the
name of the existing James Center. James Hall, as it will be called, is named in
honor of Dr. James, whose long history with the College included appointments as
the first Dean of Admissions, the first Dean of Students and Chair of the
Education and Psychology Departments. Ben, this gesture assures that your name
will continue to be synonymous with Dickinson as it has for nearly
three-quarters of a century. Ben, would you please stand?
The set of
buildings that will stand behind me by 2008 will include advanced laboratories,
equipment and classrooms. It will also include a state-of-the-art auditorium
that will serve the entire Science Campus. I am delighted to announce that we
are able to construct this distinctive facility through the generous gift of $1
million from Inge Paul Stafford, Class of 1958, and her husband John R.
Stafford, Class of 1959. We are delighted that the auditorium will forever bear
their name in recognition of their remarkable commitment to their alma mater.
Inge and Jack please stand.
I am also pleased to announce that we
have decided to name the entire Science Campus in honor of Robert D. Rector,
Class of 1945 and his wife Dorothy. We learned in January 2005 that the Rectors
had left the bulk of their estate to Dickinson College , a gift that will
approach $15 million and maybe even exceed it. This extraordinary gift gave us
the confidence to think broadly and boldly about all of our science facilities
and to conceive of them as a cohesive continuum that will promote a creative
interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge.
It is now my great privilege to announce publicly that the lead hall of
the Keystone Phase of the Science Campus will be named in honor of the Stuart
family which includes trustee, Wynne Amick, Class of 1962 and her son, Bill
Amick, Class of 1993 as well as yet another generation, Meredith-who are here
with us today; Bill's wife, Cheryl, Class of 1991; Wynne's brother Bob Stuart
and his wife, Bobbi; and the Stuart Foundation. Would Wynne and Bill please
stand? Wynne, it is, in fact, your family's remarkable gift of $5 million that
allows us to break ground today for this visionary, revolutionary Keystone Phase
of the Science Campus. With this commitment, the family's contribution to
Dickinson 's capital campaign now exceeds $6.5 million.
Your gift
specifically signals to all the transformation of philanthropy at Dickinson .
Your gift confirms our resolution from this date forward to erect buildings
vital to our academic program with foreknowledge of substantial financial
resources and thus enable us to move to completion with confidence. Your family
is an inspiration to all Dickinsonians to set the bar high for future giving
towards major building projects as well as all other initiatives at our College.
You have transformed our expectation of ourselves and have signaled an emerging
financial strength to the general public.
This generous family's
long association with Dickinson began when Wynne's father, J. William Stuart
attended the College as a member of the Class of 1932 and a contemporary of Ben
James. It was here that Bill met his future wife, Helen, also a member of the
Class of 1932.
Recently, Wynne, General Meade and I were talking
over lunch about her father. She recounted to me that her father loved Dickinson
because it opened up to him a world that he had never experienced and never
expected as a local country boy. After milking the cows in the morning, Bill
would ride daily by horse to Dickinson from the Mt. Holly Springs area,
returning at the end of the day to fulfill more chores on the farm.
Bill's first job after graduation was as a night watchman at Spencer Kellogg
and Sons in New Jersey , and he quickly moved on to handle a range of managerial
assignments. In the fall of 1941, Bill joined what was then the privately-held
Brooklyn-based firm of Pfizer pharmaceutical. The flexibility and talent he
demonstrated as a key executive in Pfizer's transition from a small organization
to one that spanned the globe reflected well the versatility of his Dickinson
liberal arts education. Most important was Bill's motivation. Mr. Stuart played
a crucial role in advancing the company's primary purpose in the late 1940s and
early 1950s-the production and worldwide distribution of penicillin, an
engagement that ultimately saved millions of lives globally during WWII and
beyond.
Bill Stuart was, as Benjamin Rush predicted, one of the
citizen-leaders who connected the dots to make a difference. Bill, along with
his pioneering colleagues saw what others did not see and, thus, could envision
a small company's potential for future global contribution and service. A
Dickinson education gave Bill a sense of the bigger world, its challenges, its
opportunities and the leadership role that he could play in it. Mr. Stuart
engaged the world; he made a significant difference. It is, therefore, so very
fitting that the Keystone Phase of the Science Campus will honor his legacy and
thereby serve as an inspiration to future generations of Dickinson students.
Wynne and Bill, on behalf of the entire Dickinson campus, I thank you
and your family for your unflagging and enthusiastic commitment to Dickinson ,
your willingness to aspire with us, and most of all, for allowing our mutual
dreams to become reality. You are noble Dickinsonians.
And now with
these ceremonial shovels, we officially break ground for Dickinson College 's
Keystone Phase of the Science Campus. It is a long-awaited moment worthy of much
celebration, heightened anticipation for our future, and gratitude to all of the
donors who have made this great day possible. Thank you all for coming.