A geoscience groundbreaking isn’t like others – no backhoe, no group shot with feet on shovels.
The groundbreaking Friday on a 60,000-square-foot building to house the geosciences, engineering and physics programs at Fort Lewis College used sledgehammers to smash rocks from the region – coal and carbonaceous shale from Junction Creek, hydrothermal rock from La Plata Canyon and rhodonite from Silverton.
Doing the honors were Dene Kay Thomas, president of FLC; two state legislators who pushed through funding at a critical time, Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, and Rep. Mike McLachlan, 59th District; and John Wells, president of the FLC board.
Thomas said the new building, which is scheduled for occupancy in fall 2016, answers the call for more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) graduates and a regional call for more professionals for jobs that support Southwest Colorado.
McLachlan noted the bipartisan effort to secure funding for the building that was slipping away.
“We had some fights in the House,” McLachlan said. “But if Senator Roberts had not saved the bill, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Geoscience students Ethan Coppage and Adam Parker also took a sledge to the rocks.
So far, FLC has received $22.8 million for building from the state. Still to come are $8.3 million from the state and $4.5 million from private fundraising in phases two and three.
The biology wing of Berndt Hall was upgraded in 2010, but the geosciences, engineering and physics wing was held up because funding was short.
Demand for physics and engineering has shot straight up, from 93 students in 2010 to 228 today, with a waiting list of 40.
daler@duranagoherald.com
