New Construction Aims To Boost ECSU’s Appeal

A new 173,000 square-foot science building is set to open at Eastern Connecticut State University as the state carries out an ambitious plan to bolster the school’s reputation as a leading liberal arts university.

The five-story, $46 million building is the latest of several new ECSU construction projects. Also green, it is the first campus building in the state to receive a LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The building features day-lighting, a gray water capture system for flushing toilets and a recycling system for rain water. Students will also have a role in improving the efficiency of heating and cooling systems, said Fred Loxsom, chair of Eastern’s Sustainable Energy Studies.

“One course we have looks at what you can do in order to reduce the energy footprint,” Loxsom said. “We plan to seek some funding to put some renewable energy on this building.”

Attracting Faculty, Students

The new science building houses a 150-seat lecture hall, a greenhouse, high-tech laboratories and study areas on each floor. It also will bring Eastern’s science and math departments under one roof after they had been spread out across seven buildings, said Nancy Tinker, director of facilities management and planning at Eastern.

The building is a big improvement over Goddard Hall, which previously housed many lab-based courses in uncomfortably crowded classrooms, she explained.

The new science building will be a selling point for attracting new faculty, Tinker said. “Goddard looks like a high school,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want to come here and teach in this new facility?”

As a liberal arts university that requires all students to take classes in numerous disciplines, more than 90 percent of Eastern students will attend at least one class in the science building, said Dennis Hannon, Eastern’s vice president of finance and administration.

“They have to get that kind of math and science background no matter what their major,” said Hannon, who noted that the college plans to make the facility a key part of the school’s recruiting strategy for students.

More Student Housing

Another strategy to boost attendance and increase the number of students living on campus is the construction of new student housing. During the past three years, three residence halls — at a combined cost of $65 million — and a $23 million renovation and expansion of the student center have been completed.

ECSU officials have focused on boosting the number of students living on campus, according to a university master plan that was created when former president David Carter — now chancellor of the entire state university system — was the president of Eastern.

The three new residence halls added 750 beds to the campus. While the other three colleges in the state university system also have undertaken construction projects, they have added less than half as many new on-campus beds at ECSU, Hannon said.

About 65 percent of Eastern students live on campus, while no more than 40 percent live on campus at Central, Southern or Western state universities. With the recent additions, Eastern officials project that 70 percent of its students will soon be living on campus.

Eastern officials are noticing increased interest from prospective students, which the school attributes to the recent construction. The percentage of students accepting admission offers increased 8 percent in 2008 from the previous year, according to Kimberly Crone, Eastern’s director of admissions and enrollment management.

However, the rapid growth in the past few years will force some students into tighter quarters than expected this year. Recognizing that it did not have enough housing to meet the demand for the fall 2009 semester, Eastern added 60 beds into existing rooms across campus, increasing freshman suite capacity from four to five students in some rooms.

“We secured rooms at a local hotel just in case, but we don’t expect to use those beds,” said John Sweeney, associate vice president for finance and administration.

School officials said a more robust enrollment ultimately benefits the state. After graduation, 86 percent of students in the state university system work in Connecticut. That percentage is even higher for Eastern graduates in financial and computer-related fields, according to estimates from the math and science departments.

The new science building’s fall opening comes on the heels of the announcement that $950 million in state bo`nds will be devoted to the state’s university system. The 10-year-plan, called CSUS 2020, will fund renovations and new construction at all four of the system’s universities.