This afternoon, I sat with Dr. Lassiter, a published biology professor here at Roanoke College, and discussed what it means to teach a class a dozen yards from an active construction site. Dr. Lassiter said, “Teaching right beside where the construction is has been challenging at times. On the day that it’s happening, it can be frustrating, but I try to step back and remember the bigger picture.” As he later told me, the plans for the McConnon Discovery Center have evolved slightly since conception, “The original plan was to do more renovation with Trexler, where some of the interior walls might be rearranged, so a little more substantial there. For Life Science, there would have been renovations as well, but most of the walls would’ve stayed where they are. The latest – we’re more focused on getting the new building up and running. We also know that fundraising priorities include the Res Life halls, student aid, and scholarships. I think there is still the idea to renovate Trexler and Life Science. As part of the new science complex, my understanding is the buildings will get better heating and air so even before getting into other renovations, we will have benefits from having the new building.”
“On the days when we have had the construction noise, I’ve moved classes, if necessary, to a classroom that wasn’t being used. And for test days, I have reserved another room in another part of the building if needed. Thankfully, we get weekly emails about interruptions to water or other construction news, but sometimes we just know if there is going to be disruptive noise that week. They’ve done a good job of telling us, in general, when things will happen. So for our class, because it started about halfway through, I just finished it as well as I could. Later that day, I made sure that for our class, as well as the next class I had, there was another place I could take you in this building if needed. Since the construction is mainly on one side of the building, if we go to the other side of the building, it’s usually okay.”
Professors have faced a variety of daily complications since construction began, from parking in a new gravel parking lot to reconfiguring research space. “A lot of the disruption was invisible to students this summer, we had to move everything out of Massengill that we wanted to stay and find places for it in Life Science or Trexler. For biology, we had our microscope facility in Massingill, underneath the auditorium there were rooms and we had a confocal microscope, a fluorescent microscope, and a cryostat. We’ve kind of squeezed together, but when the new building comes we will have more space to spread back into. So it’s just this year-and-a-half-ish period where we’re going through growing pains.”
The demolition of Massengill has been felt throughout campus, but before long the tremors will turn into screws whirring into place and the McConnon Discovery Center will rise in service to an invigorated science program.
Juniper Rogers
Section Editor
