Clarke University to Begin Construction of New Science Building This Spring

Clarke University announced today that the university’s Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to construct a new state-of-the-art science facility on campus. Groundbreaking for the new facility is slated for this spring with an anticipated opening in fall 2013. “Clarke University is a leader in preparing the science and health science leaders of tomorrow,” said Clarke President Joanne Burrows, SC, Ph.D. “This new facility will create a learning environment that matches the exceptional quality of the university’s science and health science programs.”

The three-story building will be located on Clarke Drive and will connect to Catherine Byrne Hall. The facility’s new flexible, modern spaces are designed to seamlessly integrate lecture and laboratory spaces while fostering a collaborative, hands-on learning environment. The result will be the ability to implement “pedagogies of engagement” – teaching practices designed for today’s learners and techniques that are difficult to deliver in the current science facilities. In addition to formal learning spaces, the new facility is designed to enhance collaboration through informal gathering spaces. It will create an atmosphere in which students can move from a casual study group in a common area to a very specific research project in an advanced lab with little transition. It is in this flexibility that learning becomes truly integrated.