Workers surveyed part of the
old Rankin Science building Monday. An 18-month renovation
project for the building will begin over the summer.
Enhancements in the
departments of physics and astronomy, geology, geography and planning,
and biology will begin with the removal of the old Rankin Science
Building.
“The goal is to get it down this summer,”
project manager Allison D. Kemp-Sullivan said Wednesday.
Kemp-Sullivan said the 18-month project will
include removing old Rankin Science Building (the portion facing
Belk Library) and replacing the old facilities with a building currently
called Old Rankin Replacement.
“From this point it’s two years,”
Kemp-Sullivan said of the projected time span of the project.
Kemp-Sullivan
said the new building will be designed to match the new Rankin North
building. The two buildings will then be connected with a bridge.
Funding for the project will be taken from different
bonds.
“It’s very complicated because they
are pulling [funding] from different projects,” she said.
The Old Rankin Replacement project and the following
renovation of existing Rankin will total a little over $11 million
Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Jane P. Helm said Monday.
Helm said the Old Ranking Replacement project
is necessary for Appalachian State University’s science program.
“The building is just totally inadequate
for today’s kind of science classes,” Helm said.
Old Ranking is built on a flood plane and has
out of date windows said Helm.
“Everything about [Old Rankin] is a problem,”
Helm said. “I can’t think of anything positive about Old
Rankin.”
The old Rankin Science Building currently houses
the departments of geology, biology, geography and planning, some
physics and the telescope dome and observation deck for astronomy
labs.
Astronomy lab capabilities are on the list of
enhancements in the Old Rankin Replacement.
Dr. Joseph T. Pollock, associate professor in
the department of physics and astronomy and astronomy lab coordinator,
said Friday the enhancements in the Old Rankin Replacement will
include a new laboratory room, a roll-off roof observing deck, 18
computer-controlled telescopes and a new dome.
“The one thing that is extremely important
to us is the removable roof,” Pollock said.
Pollock said the enhancements in the astronomy
labs will allow the department to take advantage of the newest technologies
available.
“The equipment itself is more user friendly.
The students will be able to do more in the way of thoroughly sophisticated
astronomical observation,” Pollock said.
Pollock said the enhancements will also allow
more capabilities for introductory lab students and make set up
work less difficult for instructors.
“Combining those two will make it an extremely
efficient and extremely good experience for the students,”
Pollock said.
Since the project is still awaiting a bid, nothing
is concrete yet, Pollock said.
“The actual project has to go out for bid
and that has not been formally done yet,” Pollock said. “Until
that happens of course we don’t know exactly whether we get
everything that we’d like to get.”
Pollock said he is still hopeful for the astronomy
enhancement plans.
“I am very confident that we will end up
with a lot of what we want and hope to have there,” Pollock
said.
