Ground Breakings for Science and Art Projects March 31

Outside-view plans for the new art building.

Saturday, March 31 will see not one, but two ground breakings, signaling the start of construction and renovation for the Unified Science Center and the art building and museum projects. The big dig begins at 10 am in the art museum's sculpture court with the ground breaking for the new and improved art facility. President Creighton and board of trustees chair Eleanor Graham Claus '55 will be among the distinguished guests. After the ceremony and brief program following, two master classes in the arts will be offered. Paul Staiti, Professor of Fine Arts on the Alumnae Foundation, will address "Manifest Destiny at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum" in Gamble Auditorium, and Nancy Campbell, associate professor art, will discuss "The Mount Holyoke College Printmaking Workshop" in Dwight Hall, room 101. Both classes will begin at 11 am.

The day's events continue at 2 pm on the lawn in front of Carr Laboratories with the ground breaking for the new Unified Science Center. At 3 pm, two master classes in the sciences will also be offered. Aaron Ellison, Marjorie Fisher Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, will discuss the Center for Environmental Literacy in Dwight Hall, room 101. Rachel Fink, associate professor of biological sciences, and Janice Hudgings, Clare Booth Luce Assistant Professor of Physics, will team teach a class titled "Two-Headed Hydra and Dancing Physlets: MHC Science Classes Meet the Web" in the Reese Psychology and Education Building, room 302. All master classes are fifty minutes in length and are open to the MHC community and returning alumnae and friends.

Through a virtual tour created in 3-D animation, attendees at the programs following each ground breaking will have a sneak preview of how the final construction and renovation for both the science and art facilities will actually (or virtually) appear when completed. The funding for these facilities is the result of gifts to The Campaign for Mount Holyoke. Based on the strategic priorities of The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2003, the campaign identified funding needs for three campus facilities: science, art, and music. More than one hundred alumnae and friends returned to campus earlier this month for the dedication celebration of Pratt Hall. Its ground breaking was one year ago this month.