For Immediate Release
September 6, 2000

$10 Million Will Support Green Complex for Sciences

South Hadley, MA---Speaking to students, faculty, and staff Wednesday afternoon at a Convocation ceremony marking the start of the fall semester, President Joanne V. Creighton has announced that Mount Holyoke College has received the largest gift in its 163-year history.

A $10-million gift from an anonymous alumna will provide key funding for a new, $33.2-million science complex which will incorporate both new construction and renovation of existing science facilities into a unified, state-of-the-art facility. Construction on the project is slated to start next spring and be completed in the fall of 2003.

The College and the donor have agreed that the new complex, which has yet to be named, will meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards as established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Green building designation entails that the science complex project will have met high standards on a wide variety of measures in using sustainable technologies and practices. In March, USGBC named the first 12 buildings that organization has certified for sustainable design and construction.

"This generous gift will serve as the foundation for more than a new science complex," President Creighton said. "It will ensure that Mount Holyoke–where we have educated generation after generation of women who have become leaders in science, medicine, and technology–will maintain its longstanding primacy in the sciences in a new century that will undoubtedly experience more scientific change than have all the past centuries combined. One crucial aspect to both the future of science and the future of science at Mount Holyoke will be our commitment to making environmental awareness a cornerstone of our practices and curriculum."

The new gift represents a major contribution to Mount Holyoke's $200-million comprehensive campaign, The Campaign for Mount Holyoke College–Advancing Our Legacy of Leadership. Launched in October 1998, the Campaign, slated to span five years, has already attained more than $152 million, more than 75 percent of its goal. The gift is one of a series of large gifts made thus far in the Campaign. Other notable contributions include: a $5.5-million gift for the science complex by Marion Craig Potter '49; a $4-million gift from Harriet Levine Weissman '58 and her husband Paul to establish the Weissman Center for Leadership; and many generous gifts from Dorothy Rooke McCulloch '50 and her husband Sandy for the renovation and construction of the College's music facility in addition to programmatic initiatives in support of internationalism at the College.

The new science complex will provide 116,000 gross square feet of new construction and renovated space. The new multistory, 38,000-square-foot building will connect three current Mount Holyoke science and academic facilities–Shattuck Hall and Clapp and Carr Labs. It will serve as the nexus for the science complex, allowing for greater interaction among the sciences, and will feature a 3,000-square-foot, three-story atrium providing a gathering place for all members of the community and benefiting the entire campus. Carr Laboratories and Shattuck Hall, built in 1955 and 1932 respectively and totaling 78,000 square feet, will be completely renovated so that Mount Holyoke students can explore the sciences in modern classrooms and laboratories.

Upon its completion, the green science complex will provide up-to-date teaching and research laboratories, classrooms, and offices to meet the departmental needs of biological sciences, biochemistry, chemistry, physics, geology, mathematics, astronomy, environmental science, and computer science. A priority of the designers will be to preserve the historic quality of the existing architecture while giving the sciences state-of-the-art facilities. The new science complex will underscore the College's excellence in the sciences and its commitment to the academic program.

"The new complex will facilitate further curricular innovation in the sciences on a campus that has set the standard for new ideas in the sciences for decades," said dean of the faculty Donal O'Shea, who was a leader on campus in planning the new facility. "We have been working as a faculty to build research into all aspects of our instruction and to allow more opportunities for interaction between the traditional scientific disciplines. This new complex allows us to continue our progress on these fronts."

In fact, Mount Holyoke has one of the most impressive records in the sciences among American institutions of higher education. For example, from the 1840s to the 1980s, Mount Holyoke produced more women who went on to receive PhDs in chemistry than any other university or college in the nation, according to The Journal of Chemical Education. Even though educational opportunities for women have increased in the past few decades, Mount Holyoke continues to do well in this area: a recent study places Mount Holyoke among the top eight institutions nationwide graduating the highest number of women who went on to earn doctoral degrees in the physical sciences (chemistry, mathematics/computer science, and physics) and engineering.

Between one-quarter and one-third of Mount Holyoke students currently major in science or mathematics–double the proportion of women who major in science or math at comparable coeducational institutions. With 50 faculty members, the sciences claim more than one-quarter of the total faculty at Mount Holyoke.

A 1995 site study by the National Science Foundation (NSF) noted, "Comparable student bodies at other institutions have not achieved as much in the sciences, and we are persuaded that the College deserves much of the credit for how fully its students develop their potential." The College was also recognized by the NSF in 1998 for its institutionwide efforts at reforming introductory and core laboratories across the sciences. Individual departments have received grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Hewlett-Packard, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Packard Foundation, and others. Further, the College is viewed as a leader in developing new and effective interdisciplinary approaches. In an extraordinary show of support, during 1999—2000, the College was awarded five new Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) grants from the NSF for curricular reform in physics, chemistry, earth and environment, and educational materials development.

The new complex will also conform to the LEED Green Building Rating System for certification for sustainable design and construction as set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council. The USGBC is an international organization, including wide representation from leading construction, environmental, architectural, financial, and manufacturing firms, which seeks to speed adoption of green building practices, technologies, polices, and standards.

Among highlights of the new science facility's LEED designation are:

The George B. H. Macomber Company has been selected to provide construction management services for the project. The George B. H. Macomber Company is a leading builder and construction manager serving New England since 1904. Macomber recently completed two 100,000 square feet outpatient medical buildings for Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and a 270-unit renovation of the Spring Meadow Apartments, also in Springfield. The company's longstanding commitment to Western Massachusetts includes hiring area residents for its professional staff and by utilizing local subcontractors.

Macomber's history in the area goes back to the 1950s and 1960s, when the company built the Frost Library for Amherst College, nine projects for MountHolyoke College, and several projects for Eaglebrook School. Macomber's largest project in Western Massachusetts was Chestnut Park, a 489-unit residential and commercial complex located in Springfield. The project architect is Einhorn, Yaffee & Prescott of Albany, NY and Cambridge, MA.