Mississippi Valley State University officials will break ground for the construction of a $13.2 million Science & Technology Building on Wednesday.
The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on the site near Medgar Evers Street on the Itta Bena campus. The public is invited.
Officials from the Institutions of Higher Learning will join MVSU President Lester C. Newman and members of the faculty and staff in the second building celebration in recent months.
"We were pleased to celebrate the grand opening of our new Business Education Building in February and now begin another project that will enhance the academic lives of our students," Newman said.
The facility will house the Department of Natural Science and Environmental Health, including the graduate program in Bioinformatics.
The Bioinformatics program began in 2005, and is a two-year, multi-disciplinary program in molecular biology, computer science and mathematics.
"I am really excited about the building. We have a good group of students who are looking forward to extra class space and state of the art lab facilities," said Dr. Abigail Newsome, director of the bioinformatics program.
"This building has been a long time coming and represents a new level of academic excellence," Newsome said.
Actual construction will begin once the demolition of the former ROTC Building is completed.
If on schedule, classes will begin in the building for the summer 2009 term. The two-story brick building will include 14 labs, four classrooms, a large auditorium and 18 faculty and graduate student offices.
"The labs will be multifunctional," said Tommy Verdell, director of Facilities Management. "They can be used for either science and math classes or for computer classes."
The building will be 56,379 square feet and include IP addressable phones, voice data systems and automated controls for all mechanical, electrical and plumbing.
"It's an energy-efficient building," Verdell said. Lights will automatically turn off when there is no movement in a classroom.
Foil Wyatt Architects & Planners of Jackson is the architectural firm. C.E. Frazier Construction Co. of Jackson was awarded the project based on the lowest bid.
