Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Roanoke College Breaks Ground on New Science Center

  • By Matt Jones
  • 04/25/24

Roanoke College in Salem, Va., recently broke ground on the first phase of a new Science Center, according to a college news release. The three-phase project will transform three buildings on campus into a new STEM hub for academics and research. The first phase of construction entails the demolition of a 1970s-era auditorium building to make room for a $30-million academic building.

The news release reports that once the new facility is completed, it will play home to some of the school’s most popular degree programs and house about one-third of all courses on campus. Amenities will include lab space, interactive study spaces, collaboration space, and technology upgrades. The college partnered with architecture firm VMDO for the project’s design.

“Every future student, regardless of major will take science, technology, engineering and mathematics in that facility as part of their educational foundation,” said Bettie Sue Masters ‘59, a member of the science center advisory board. “The laboratories will provide modern educational instrumentation and infrastructure for STEM research to produce graduates who are highly competitive and in academia and industry.”

According to the school’s website, every student on campus will take at least three courses from programs housed in the Science Center, regardless of major. The project serves as the capstone of a 25-year Campus Journey that has seen a series of campus construction and renovation projects around campus.

The Science Center will play home to the college’s programs in actuarial science, biology, chemistry, computer science, data science, engineering science, environmental studies, mathematics, physics, and psychology, according to the Roanoke College website.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Photo credit - Chuck Coates

    Florida District Modernizes Central Energy Plants at Two High Schools

    Flagler Schools, a public school district in Flagler County, Fla., recently partnered with Matern Professional Engineering to modernize the central energy plants at two of its high schools, according to a news release. The project is part of a larger, district-wide effort to reduce energy costs and operational expenses.

  • How a Portable Sink Helped an Art Classroom Run More Smoothly

    Classroom design decisions can have outsized effects on instructional time and safety at schools juggling mismatched infrastructure, strict budgets, and crowded schedules — particularly in the arts. Between spilled paint and dirty brushes, art classes run smoother with a sink in the studio. But many schools don’t have a sink in every art classroom.

  • California Middle School Breaks Ground on Major Renovation Project

    The Hillsborough City School District (HCSD) in Hillsborough, Calif., recently began construction on new multipurpose and administration facilities for Crocker Middle School, according to a news release.