Baker University President Pat Long has been busy during her four months at Baker getting acquainted with her new surroundings, but that’s not all she’s been doing.
Long and her administrative cohorts have been scheming away in Constant Hall during these initial months, and their plans came out Thursday when Long made several announcements as the university officially swore her into her position as the 28th university president.
As the academic year began, Long said the administrative staff and she had set three main goals for the university to achieve prior to the inaugural ceremony.
The first of these goals was to raise the university’s scholarship endowment fund into six digits for the first time. Long was scheduled to announce Thursday that 1974 alumnus Doug Goppard had contributed $200,000 with the Goppard Family Foundation to increase the scholarship endowment.
The second goal was to create innovative and challenging learning environments, Long said.
As a part of this mission, Long said Charles Kopke, who developed the Kopke Outstanding Faculty award, has included in his estate a “sizeable gift” to develop the Kopke Endowment for Innovation in Education.
Long said the award will be granted to professors to engage in research and various projects decided through a proposal process.
“The end will ensure a minimum of $75,000 a year in perpetuity,” Long said. “The goal for the science building is to open the new facilities by late 2009 or early 2010.
Long said the addition is still in the works, as faculty are looking over several possibilities, including a wraparound design and an addition to the south, which would extend into the grassy area north of the Clarice L. Osborne Memorial Chapel.
Ziegler said the science faculty had a part in deciding on an addition and renovation.
“That’s something the science faculty decided on,” he said. “They saw more possibilities, more classroom space and more of what they’re looking for.”
Ziegler said science faculty were excited about the idea of renovation as opposed to the old notion of an entirely new science building.
“The project was so big before, and the prospects of raising the kinds of money, I think a kind of practical reality set in,” he said. “I think people are really thinking that it’s going to happen now. It’s recharged the science faculty.”
For a fresher idea, Long announced the university is in the process of acquiring a plot of land near the campus that will be devoted to a new 200-bed residence hall. The building will ideally house students by 2008, Long said. However, she acknowledged that 2009 may be more realistic.
Assistant Dean of Student Development, Mark Zeno, said the new housing would be a much need addition.
“I think the need for a new for a new residence hall, since all of our halls are 40 to 50 years old, is a good thing to look at,” Zeno said.
Long said she was not giving the creation of new dorms more importance than the science building. She said a residence hall takes less time to design and build. She also said a residence hall can be funded through a developer’s contract as it is a revenue-creating building.