• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

By Melody Wang

Daily Bruin Contributor

With a 30 percent increase in life science students at UCLA from 1992 to 1998, the university has decided to create a Life Science Teaching and Learning Center.

The new building, scheduled to be completed by winter quarter 2003, will cost at least $4.5 million and will feature one of the five largest lecture halls on campus.

According to John Sandbrook, assistant provost of the College of Letters and Sciences, 10 of the 14 large undergraduate life science courses last winter quarter were held in Moore 100, Dodd 147 or Dickson 2147.

“Being able to schedule a larger number of life science courses in the Court of Sciences area, rather than North Campus, should be beneficial to students who also take a lot of their other courses in the Court of Sciences area,” Sandbrook said.

In addition, professors will have an easier time carrying demonstration supplies from their offices to lecture halls closer to the Court of Sciences, said Dean of Life Sciences Frederick Eiserling.

“It’s really a hassle for professors to have to take all of this stuff to a far building so they don’t do it and students miss out,” Eiserling said.

The new building will be close to the current life science building and south of the Bomb Shelter.

Currently, workers are building an underground water storage tank, to be completed by summer 2001, to support increased air conditioning.

The center will then be constructed above the water tank.

The first two floors of the building will include a classroom that seats 55 students, two 20-seat seminar rooms and a 355-seat auditorium.

The current life science lecture hall, which seats 220 students, will be demolished in 2002 and replaced by a new research lab, Sandbrook said.

If current discussions with a donor are successful, the university will add a third floor to house the Institute for the Environment, which was created in 1997 to provide an interdisciplinary unit for environment-related issues. This will increase construction costs from $4.5 million to $7 million.

The first $2.5 million will come from funds for the new research lab, Sandbrook said. The other $2 million will be funded by the College of Letters and Sciences.

Life Science Student Service Officer Tammy Johnson said the department has needed more lecture space for some time.

“Having more space means that students can have classes at better times,” she said.

She said devoting an entire building to life sciences allows more flexibility in class scheduling since lecture halls won’t have to be shared with North Campus classes.

But not every student feels the new building is necessary.

“A lot of South Campus students don’t get a chance to go to North Campus,” said Ravi Menghani, a second-year biochemistry student, who explained that having science classes in North Campus allow students to cross over to another part of the school.

“They get a chance to see a lot of the pretty North Campus buildings,” he said. “It’s good the way it is."

He added that university money would be better spent to reduce lab fees.

Eiserling said the extra space is necessary due to increased demands for life science courses.

“There’s been a shift in the number of undergraduate students,” he said. “More students are just interested in life sciences.”

With reports by Dharshani Dharmawardena, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.

Comments

Post a comment