Westminster College Dedicates $11.2M Science Center Expansion

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. –  The $11.2 million expansion of the Hoyt Science Center at Westminster College was dedicated Friday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially unveil the innovative new space.

The 27,000-square-foot facility, which opened this week as students returned for fall classes, marks the completion of Phase III of the Hoyt Renovation and Expansion Project. The new wing houses Westminster’s chemistry and biochemistry departments. It features classrooms, offices, ample spaces to encourage student collaboration, and six research laboratories – including an organic chemistry lab named in memory of the late Dr. H. Dewey DeWitt, professor of chemistry emeritus, who served on Westminster’s faculty from 1956-1993.
 
Westminster President Dr. Kathy Brittain Richardson addressed the crowd of donors, faculty, staff, students, community members and elected officials. She acknowledged the financial support from key donors and foundations including the May Emma Hoyt Foundation, the A.J. and Sigismunda Palumbo Charitable Trust, the Orris C. and Beatrice Dewey Hirtzel Foundation and the Lloyd Foundation.
 
“I am especially grateful to the many faculty, staff and students for being so patient and supportive,” said Richardson. “I hope this building meets your dreams and continues to be a place of growth and learning. Today is a day of celebration for us here at Westminster.”
 
Seth Schrader, a senior chemistry major from Fredonia, N.Y., attested to the quality of the new laboratory spaces and said they had “all the bells and whistles.”
 
“I remember touring a lot of science facilities when I was deciding where I wanted to go to college and I can honestly say that none of them even compare to the facilities we have here now,” said Schrader, a member of the All-College Honors Program. “I was lucky enough to spend four weeks of my summer here working in the brand-new research labs, and I can tell you firsthand they are incredible. They have everything you could possibly need or want as a chemist.” 
 
The new wing was designed by BHDP Architecture, based in Columbus, Ohio, and built by Thomas Construction Inc. of Grove City, Pa.
 
The completion of the project follows phases one and two of the Hoyt Renovation and Expansion Project, which created Westminster’s nursing and neuroscience facilities and the Dietz Sullivan Lecture Hall, as well as other structural and aesthetic renovations and upgrades to the existing Hoyt structure.

The Hoyt building was constructed in 1974 with an addition built in the 1980s. 
 
The fourth and final phase of the project will address spaces needed for the College’s Center for the Environment and future expanded academic programming, as well as unrenovated areas from the project’s first two stages. 
 

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.