Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511090043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Hancock Education Center will include a classroom and laboratory building between the park's main public parking lot and the Blue Ridge settlement, its outdoor living history museum area.
The center will be a state-of-the-art teaching and research facility, said Norman Fintel, president of the River Foundation, Explore's fund-raising arm.
Fintel said the funds to design and build the center will come exclusively from private sources. He said gifts totaling almost $1 million have been donated to the project by several corporations and friends of Hancock.
Corporate contributors include the company Hancock founded, Roanoke Electric Steel Corp.; NationsBank; Crestar Bank; and Bell Atlantic. Fund raising for the project is continuing, Fintel said.
The River Foundation has authorized the park staff to obtain architectural and engineering plans for the center, which will be built within the next 18 months. It will be turned over to the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority, the agency that runs the park, and the park's staff for administration.
Rupert Cutler, Explore's executive director, said the building is envisioned as a low-rise structure with its exterior finished in native materials, and with windows overlooking the nearby Roanoke River.
Fintel said the center will be used for environmental conferences, Elderhostel programs and adult continuing education courses. It also will include facilities for graduate students as well as primary and secondary school classes and field trips, he said.
Cutler said the center will make the park's history and nature education programs weatherproof.
Deanna Gordon, superintendent of Roanoke County schools, said the center will be an educational asset to the region that could accommodate student research in art, music, environmental science, cultural history and anthropology.
Gordon, who has assisted the River Foundation's fund-raising campaign, said the center also could help foster teachers' professional growth and development.
Cutler said Gordon and other educators will be asked to advise Explore's staff on the center's design. Architects soon will be invited to submit their qualifications to design and oversee the center's construction, he said.
Hancock, who died in 1994, helped underwrite planning and development of Explore Park for nine years. He was one of the founders of the River Foundation.
by CNB