ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
The life science program at Ferrum College is doing some growing.
Ground was broken Monday for the college's $700,000 expansion to Garber Hall, the building that now houses the program.
The 7,700-square-foot expansion will include ecology and botany laboratories, three student research rooms, a computerized geographic information system drafting room, a two-story greenhouse, and office space.
Construction is scheduled to be finished this fall.
Funding for the project has flowed in from several sources: the C.E. Richardson Benevolent Foundation of Pulaski, parents of Ferrum students and alumni, friends of the college, and two dozen local and state companies.
The life science faculty at the college committed to the project by opening their wallets, too.
They donated tens of thousands of dollars of their own money to make sure the expansion became reality, said Matt Conn, Ferrum's director of public relations.
The Garber Hall project is the most recent of several renovations and construction projects at the college in the past five years.
The Ferrum Fitness Center was completed in 1994, and Garber Hall underwent another major renovation in 1993.
Before that, the Blue Ridge Institute museum and the Grousbeck Music Center were built, and all five college residence halls and the school library were renovated, according to Tom Rickard, a Ferrum spokesman.
The Blue Ridge Institute, affiliated with the college, is the state's official archives for folk music and folklore.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB