 |
|
||||||
 |
| News & Events Home Calendar of Events The Alvernian |
|
|||
 |
| Pennsylvania Senator Michael A. O’Pake |
(READING) – The O’Pake Science Center, a $9.3 million state-of-the-art facility, was named and dedicated on the Reading campus of Alvernia College in a formal ceremony on Wednesday, September 27, at 4 p.m.
On the steps of the College’s newest academic building, College officials, including President Thomas F. Flynn, recognized Pennsylvania Senator Michael A. O’Pake of the 11th District, for whom the building is named.
“The O’Pake Science Center,” said President Flynn, “is a testament to Senator O’Pake’s vision for and commitment to Alvernia College. The name of the Center also speaks to his lifelong record of service to the people and organizations of Greater Reading and to strengthening all services and programs offered within our higher education community.”
The building was then blessed by the Most Reverend Edward P. Cullen, Bishop of the Archdiocese of Allentown.
The O’Pake Science Center adds 31,582 square feet of classroom, laboratory, and faculty office space. Each of the two floors is equipped with five laboratory/classrooms, all of which have smart capability, or Internet access, to bring the resources of the World Wide Web as well as research and data from other schools and laboratories into Alvernia’s classrooms.
“The growth of Alvernia and the range of majors and minors we now offer in the sciences and allied health fields drove the need for a larger facility with more laboratories and classrooms,” said President Flynn, citing 415 students in twelve academic majors and dozens more minors directly impacted by the new center as well as hundreds more students who have core curriculum requirements in the sciences.
The most popular academic programs benefiting from the new Center are nursing, forensic science, occupational therapy, athletic training, biology, and chemistry, respectively. Other science majors impacted by the improved and expanded science facilities are biochemistry, biology education, medical technology, and chemical education.
The $9.3 million price tag included construction, furnishings, and equipment. In addition to Senator O’Pake, the College gratefully acknowledged the George I. Alden Trust, the Estate of John Cenerazzo, and United States Congressman Jim Gerlach representing the 6th District of Pennsylvania for securing funding to assist in the construction and equipping of the O’Pake Science Center.
Tours of the Center directly followed the dedication.
 
Click on image to view |
In the 2007 U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges edition, Alvernia was ranked 27th overall among Comprehensive Colleges in the North and second among Northern Colleges, public and private, for graduating students with the lightest debt load.
Alvernia College is a co-educational Catholic College enrolling 1,349 traditional undergraduates, 590 continuing education students, and 695 graduate students at the Reading, Philadelphia and Schuylkill County campuses. Alvernia offers more than 50 academic areas as well as pre-professional programs in medicine, dentistry, law, and veterinary medicine. On the graduate level, it offers one doctoral program, seven master’s degrees, and two graduate-level certification programs.
Sponsored by the Bernardine Sisters of Saint Francis, its purpose is to provide affordable quality education that combines the liberal arts with career and professional opportunities, preparing learners for personal achievement, social responsibility, and moral leadership.
For more information about Alvernia College, call (888) ALVERNIA.
Updated: October 5, 2006
Alvernia College ©2008 Contact the webmaster with your comments.