Nazareth College to Build Math and Science Center to Meet Growing Need

ROCHESTER, NY (USA) June 24, 2010 – Nazareth College is embarking on a capital campaign to raise funds needed for a new Integrated Center for Math and Science on campus. The new building, estimated to cost $32 million, would house labs for math and science and also have classrooms and centers for collaborative research.

Nazareth College is planning to finance slightly more than half of the cost of the building and raise the remainder through a mix of grants, government aid and private philanthropy. The project is in the construction documents development phase now, and is being designed according to LEED standards. It is expected to be certified at the Silver Level. Nazareth College plans to break ground in spring 2011.

“Many people say they do not associate math and science with Nazareth College because we do not have an engineering school, but math and science are huge pieces of what we do,” said Nazareth College President Daan Braveman said. “We require all our undergraduates to take a science lab course and in addition our 900 students in health and human services programs enroll in science courses. Finally, a demand is created by those students in our education programs who want to teach math and science at the K-12 levels.”

The four-floor building will be the largest newly built academic facility on campus and will accommodate students interested in careers in biology, chemistry, and mathematics. In addition, the building will serve students in Nazareth College’s growing health and human services programs, along with students training to be math and science educators in the School of Education. In the last six years the School of Health and Human Services has had a 55 percent growth in fields with strong student interest in programs like speech therapy, art and music therapy, nursing and physical therapy.

The Center will be located in an area south of the Golisano Academic Center and be part of the campus’ connected system of tunnels. The building will have a significant community impact by creating 230 construction jobs in the short term, and will have a long term economic effect on the region as close to three-quarters of students in the health and human services field and an equally large number of our students in education programs remain in the area to work after graduating.

Founded in 1924, Nazareth College is a coeducational college with undergraduate and graduate studies in the liberal arts and sciences and professional programs in health and human services, education, and management. The College is located on 150 scenic acres near Rochester, New York, and currently enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate and 800 graduate students. Nazareth has a strong commitment to experience-based learning and civic engagement. In the past decade, Nazareth has produced 18 Fulbright recipients and two Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowships. For more information on the College, visit www.naz.edu.

Julie Long
Assistant Direction of Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
Nazareth College
4245 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14618
(585) 389-2456

This release was published on openPR.