Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Final steel beam hoisted on WCU science building
WEST CHESTER »
On the threshold of its 150th anniversary year, West Chester University has hoisted the last beam needed to complete the steelwork framing of its new and currently under construction Sciences & Engineering Center and Commons (SECC), the newest and largest building in the University’s history.
President Christopher Fiorentino recently visited the campus construction site, located directly across from the campus Student
Recreation Center, to sign the 12-inch high by 39-foot long final beam prior to its lofty placement. The project’s lead benefactor, Montgomery County pharmaceutical company owner and WCU adjunct professor Marc Duey, who had donated $1 million to the construction on behalf of the his family.
Known traditionally as a formal “topping off” ceremony, the longstanding construction custom commemorates the completion of a building’s framing phase. Painted “West Chester University gold”
and bearing the University’s 150th anniversary logo, the beam is the outer-most and highest beam in the northwest corner of the facility.
The building’s construction is especially timely, as students with experience in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) coursework are needed now more than ever.
“Digital convergence, artificial intelligence, and advanced engineering design will make our students engage like never before and open a gateway to integrating across disciplines to present eloquent solutions to the vexing challenges of today, like COVID-19, and of tomorrow,” said Duey, whose businesses include numerous health care companies, including ProMetrics, Inc. of King of Prussia, and others.
Upon completion in the spring of 2021, the new $130-million facility will be home to the university’s rapidly growing health science curriculum, physics, and the new biomedical engineering program, as well as expansive academic and support spaces.
“For the student services family the new facility epitomizes and captures the essence of our mission – putting students first,” said Student Services Incorporated (SSI) Board President Bernard J. Carrozza. “SSI would like to commend all of the partners who had the vision to provide and the future to create. It is not just about stone and steel, it is about students and stability, students and opportunity, students and their specialness.”
Fiorentino reinforced the University’s unyielding commitment to students despite the enormity of a global interruption.
“In a year that has been nothing short of a rollercoaster for our university and our world, today is both a highlight and a triumph,” said Fiorentino. “At West Chester University, nothing — not even a pandemic — will ever stand in the way of our mission of advancing student success.
“The Sciences & Engineering Center and the Commons will be an educational gamechanger for students in the sciences, as well as for the entire campus community,” the president remarked. “Thank you to everyone who played a part in making this dream a reality.”
Recognizing that meaningful connections happen in a variety of settings, the facility will also feature a student commons area – a welcoming environment for students to gather, eat, and work. The 800-seat residential dining facility will encompass more than 16,000 square feet of the building’s entire second floor. A progressive design will encourage students to use the facility as a third space and an exciting location to meet, get a healthy meal between classes, and engage in other formative, non-academic activities.