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Number 5, November 2006
The New Science Building: What Does Green Mean?
The vision for bringing Phi Beta Kappa to Virginia Wesleyan College includes a new LEED-certified platinum green laboratory science building. It will be a state-of-the-art instructional setting and will feature cutting-edge green elements.
Virginia Wesleyan College recently hosted a LEED-Platinum Green Laboratory Science Building Workshop. Interactive sessions addressed lessons learned from building a platinum green laboratory science building at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and teaching in a platinum building. Dr. Jeff Dozier, founding dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UCSB, was one of the guest speakers.
FACT: There is an economy to the ecology. Bank of America, Wal-Mart, Ford and Toyota are some of the major corporations that have recently built or are planning to build green facilities.
Dozier emphasized:
- A platinum green building is environmentally responsible, preserves our natural resources, and is sensitive to the future of our fellow mankind.
- Research shows that students and faculty perform better and have increased productivity in a green building. UCSB saw improvement in the quality of students who were applying and accepted to attend the Bren School. Dozier has documented improvement in grades for students in the green building.
- Green buildings make economic sense because of significant cost savings over the life of the building. UCSB recouped the additional investment in obtaining a platinum rating in three years.
"Platinum" Is A Journey, Not A Destination
There is a popular notion that building "green" means erecting the building and then doing some extra work at the end to make it more efficient. To achieve LEED-Platinum status, LEED standards must be addressed during the initial design and planning phase and green elements must be documented throughout construction. Some of the considerations include: how the building site is cleared; damage to the surrounding ecosystem and the effects on ground water; use of adhesives and solvent during construction; and even the choice of building materials and the distance they must be transported. We don't just arrive at platinum status, we are green each step of the way.
And once we are platinum, we are not finished. The learning process will go on. Over the 40-year life of the building, it will actually be an experiment itself, a living laboratory of sustainable design, in which students will study, conduct research, interact and participate in measuring, monitoring and re-calibrating the performance of the green elements of the facility.
» Platinum Green Laboratory Science
Building, South View
» Leading Edge Features of the LEED-Platinum
Green Laboratory Science Building
Progress Toward Our Goal
The Key to the Future Campaign covers five years, from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2008.
As of October 31, 2006, the College was at $41.2 million, an increase of $2.1 million since our last update.
Each endowment, each capital improvement and every Annual Fund dollar supports the drive to be Phi Beta Kappa caliber.
Campaign Leadership Gifts
Anonymous Gift Creates Endowed Chair
An anonymous gift of $1,000,000 has created the C. S. Lewis Endowed Chair in Communication and Christian Thought. In the mid-20th century, through Lewis' Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, he articulated a Christian view of the world that influenced various branches of learning. Similarly, the C. S. Lewis Endowed Chair in Communication and Christian Thought recognizes both the significant relationship between faith and culture and the need for faith to be translated in ever-relevant ways.
Virginia Wesleyan College named Terrence R. Lindvall, Ph.D. the C. S. Lewis Endowed Chair in Communication and Christian Thought. The College also has the David and Gloria Furman Endowed Chair in Judaic Studies.
Jacklyn Pearce
FACT: There have been 76 gifts of $50,000 or more made to the Key to the Future Campaign.
In memory of her husband, Jacklyn Pearce, wife of the late Raymond D. Pearce, Jr., has made a charitable gift to the Virginia Wesleyan College for campus modernization and the naming of the Raymond D. Pearce Hospitality Suite in the Jane P. Batten Student Center. The contribution totals $643,000 and is a combination of outright gifts and deferred gifts from her estate.
Mr. and Mrs. Pearce are longtime friends of the College through their ties to the United Methodist Church and the Kellam Family. Mr. Pearce died in 1999 at age 83. He was a native of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach area and later lived in Pennsylvania. He retired in 1980 from industrial sales and was a member of the Virginia Beach United Methodist Church and the Grand Lodge A.F.&A.M. of Virginia. Mrs. Pearce currently resides in Maryland.