|
By Elizabeth Walker
The biology department's presence on campus has increased
by 12,000 square feet thanks, in part, to a $600,000 grant
from the Worcester-based
George I. Alden Trust.
Originally housed in two rooms in Beaven Hall at the turn of the last century,
the biology department made a significant move to a new building of its own,
constructed in 1951 at a cost of $616,000. Known as the Biology Building, it
was renamed O'Neil Memorial Hall eight years later in honor of the generous family
of William F. O'Neil '07. Now, as another new century unfolds, the department
has again spread its wings, but this time with a dramatic renovation and added
space, rather than a
major move. The 35,000-square-foot O'Neil Hall was completely renovated by the
start of the fall term with a brand new 12,000-square-foot teaching and research
addition, completed in time for spring semester 2000.
The $9.3-million O'Neil project includes a total interior redesign of the existing
building and a new, as-yet-unnamed, two-story undergraduate research wing. This
top-to-bottom gutting and redesign, and additional teaching and research lab
space allow biology faculty and students to put to work more effectively the
new knowledge, teaching methods and research protocols that did not exist when
O'Neil was constructed nearly a half century ago. When the building was dedicated
in 1951, former biology Chair Rev. John A. Frisch, S. J., spoke of the distance
the discipline had traveled in the first half of the 20th century and the significance
of the new structure.
"Biology has come a long way since the time it consisted mainly in the collection
and classification of plants and
animals and in dissecting their structures," Fr. Frisch observed. "The emphasis
shifted gradually from morphology to a study of function and of the physical
and chemical factors that operate in life processes. . that Holy Cross has kept
pace with the growth of biology is eloquently shown by the mute testimony of
the new structure we are dedicating today to the
study of biological sciences."
While the faculty and curricula continued to advance during the ensuing five
decades, the building, despite periodic renovations, could not. In fact, in recent
years, it became the single
limiting factor in the department's continued growth and accomplishment. At the
time O'Neil was built, the fields of molecular biology, neuroscience and environmental
science had yet to evolve; computers had yet to debut, and electron microscopes
and hands-on, discovery-based science curricula had yet to make their way to
undergraduate institutions.
Today the Holy Cross biology program, a leader in undergraduate research, is
nationally recognized for curricular innovation, a renowned faculty and student
achievement. With access to modern instrumentation that rivals that of any U.S.
liberal arts college, a science library ranked fifth in the nation and a state-of-the-art
computer network, the department has maintained its strength, vitality and reputation
despite outgrowing its outdated facilities. Biology has attracted generations
of students intent on pursuing careers in science and medicine. Thousands of
those
students have become the nation's finest healers, teachers, policymakers and
researchers. This prestigious litany includes the first director of the National
Institutes of Health, the late James Shannon, M.D., '25; Anthony
Fauci, M.D., '62, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, and Joseph E. Murray, M.D., '40, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine.
The biology program's national reputation and innovative
curricula made the O'Neil renovation project an ideal fit
for a request for support from the Alden Trust, according
to Charles Weiss, director of the Office of Grants and Foundation
and Corporate Giving at
Holy Cross.
"The foundation is dedicated to supporting capital projects in education with
a major emphasis on higher education," Weiss said. "We approached the Alden Trust
because this project was so appropriate. It not only supports science education
at Holy Cross, but also will affect the Worcester community through our many
links to the Worcester public schools. Worcester teachers and their students
will come to this new wing for hands-on science and discovery in the new labs.
The Alden Teaching Labs for neurobiology, biochemistry, cell biology and courses
for nonbiology majors comprise the major teaching suite in the new wing."
The Holy Cross approach to learning science by doing science
in the lab and in the field, rather than just reading about
it in the classroom, as well as reaching
out to community schools, meshes with industrialist, inventor and educator
George Alden's philosophy
of "practice over precept" for career-related education at all levels. The
renovation of and addition to O'Neil strengthen that community partnership
as it greatly enhances the undergraduate science experience on campus. The
modern classroom
and laboratory facility also allows Holy Cross, home
to one of the nation's premier biology programs, to set the pace in the biological
sciences in this new century.
|
