8/29/2006
Contact: K.E. Schwab -- 724-738-2199;
e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu
PHOTO -- CLICK HERE
SRU’S NEW ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE
HALL OPENING WITH FOUR-PART
‘SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE NEW
AGE’ LECTURE SERIES
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.
– The opening of Slippery Rock University’s new,
three-story, $14.5-million Advanced Technology and Science Hall
will be formerly marked with the four-part lecture celebration
“Science and Technology in the New Age” running the
week of Sept. 11.
“We thought
it would be a great idea to open the building by allowing students,
faculty, staff and the community to tour the new facility and
participate in a series of technology-related lectures of interest
to all segments of the campus and community,” explains Dr.
Bruce Russell, dean of the College of Business, Information and
Social Sciences. In addition to the campus community, Russell
points out the lectures will be of interest to local high school
students. The departments of chemistry, geology, geography
and the environment, and the computer science are housed in the new
facility.
The series
opens at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 11 with Roland “Bud” Mertz,
deputy director for critical infrastructure and community liaison
for the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security, addressing the
topic “Technology and the War on Terror.”
Sept. 12 will
see Dr. Tamra Schiappa, assistant professor of geography, geology
and the environment, addressing the issue of women working in the
field of geology with “From Fossils to Faults: Women
Investigating the Earth” in her 12:30 p.m.
address.
Sept. 13 will offer
a 7:30 p.m. lecture by Shiya Ribowsky, former director of special
projects for the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office and
forensic consultant to NBC’s “Law and Order,” as
well as co-author of the newly released book “Dead Center:
Behind the Scenes at the World’s Largest Medical
Examiner’s Office” discussing events related to
“Forensics in the Public Eye.” Ribowsky’s program
will include a book signing in the Snyder Charitable Foundation
Lobby following the lecture.
The week concludes
with a 12:30 p.m. Sept. 14 address by Joe Murzyn, executive
assistant to the attorney general of Pennsylvania, offering
“Technology and Identity Theft.”
All four lectures
will be held in the building’s high-tech, 250-seat main
auditorium. Tours will be offered at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 and Sept.
14.
The new building,
built through Pennsylvania capital improvements funding, is a
76,000-square-foot structure. Uniquely located at the southern
entrance to campus, the building in effect has two fronts –
one facing Kiester Road, the other the campus quad. The building
includes some 20 science teaching and research laboratories, a
120-unit computer science laboratory, study lounges and faculty
offices. The entire building is equipped for multimedia display as
well as wired for the Internet and other “smart
classroom” technologies.
A $250,000
commitment from the Snyder Charitable Foundation based in
Kittanning provided for the lobby outside the main, showcase
auditorium. The foundation manages the charitable resources of
Snyder Associated Companies, which includes Allegheny Mineral
Corp., operating in Slippery Rock and nearby
Harrisville.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A photo of the building's
exterior is available by clicking on PHOTO at the top of this
release.
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