Saint Vincent College is undertaking the largest building project in its 162-year history. With the help of a $7.6 million gift from Sis and Herman Dupré, the college will complete a major expansion of its science facilities.
The 45,000-square-foot Sis and Herman Dupré Science Complex—which will house the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing—is part of a $40 million fundraising campaign that will support an endowment for professorships, student scholarships and research and ongoing facility operations. The project will also renovate 60,000 square feet of space within the college’s existing science building.
With sixty-percent of the facility dedicated to lab space, the complex will support hands-on learning and accommodate the college’s increasing science enrollment, which has grown by more than thirty-percent since 2003. The center will feature laboratories dedicated to cell genetics, microbiology, biochemistry, organic chemistry, astronomy, electronics, and digital imaging.
MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni have created an open design for the complex, which will house shared classrooms, computer labs, conference rooms, lounges, and a 75-seat lecture hall. San Diego-based
Research Facilities Design is designing the labs. The project—which will seek LEED certification—will feature a three-story glass atrium. Construction on the complex will begin in 2009.
An inventor and entrepreneur who holds 34 U.S. patents, Herman Dupré graduated from Saint Vincent College in 1953 and was CEO of
Seven Springs for 40 years. As chief engineer for Snow Economics, Inc., Dupré developed one of the world’s largest snowmaking systems. A Pittsburgh native, Mary "Sis" McSwigan was a teacher with
Pittsburgh Public Schools.
Writer:
Jennifer BaronSource: Don Orlando, St. Vincent College
Image courtesy St. Vincent College