Telegram and Gazette 4/5/16

WORCESTER – With snow swirling around the shivering crowd that came out for the occasion, Assumption College officials Monday afternoon broke ground on a new academic building on campus.

The planned 60,000-square-foot building, the college’s first major construction project since the Testa Science Center a dozen years ago, is expected to open in the fall of 2017.

Slated to go up between Fuller Hall and the Hagan Campus Center, the center is more than just a new addition at the school, Assumption’s President Francesco C. Cesareo said in his address. It's also “a visible manifestation of the centrality of the intellectual life of the campus and a manifestation of the mission of the institution,” he said.

Described by college officials as “state of the art,” the new academic center will feature seminar rooms, common study spaces, and a 400-seat performance hall equipped with high-tech acoustic systems. It will also contain 13 classrooms designed for “group-based learning” rather than traditional lecture-based instruction, said the project architect, Stephen Van Dyke of Nault Architects Inc. in Worcester.

The building will be energy-efficient, although not to LEED certification standards, he said.

“All the decisions made in designing the building were geared toward sustainability,” Mr. Van Dyke said. “It’s just a project that uses sound judgment.”

Assumption plans to pay for the new building primarily through fundraising. Mr. Cesareo said Monday the college has already brought in $9.1 million toward its $15 million goal. The remaining amount will be financed through a loan, according to the school.

“Meeting with alumni and supporters of the college throughout the country, I can share that there is significant excitement for this new building,” Mr. Cesareo said.

Francis J. Bedard, chairman of the college’s board of trustees, said the project reflects the overall health of the institution.

“In a time when many small private colleges struggle, Assumption continues to thrive,” he said.

The board of trustees approved the project at its February meeting, in part based on the reasoning that Assumption needs to “offer state-of-the-art facilities” to attract students, Mr. Bedard said. In addition, the members “agreed the building had to be one that benefits all students,” which the academic center will do, he said.

Once the building is complete, it will house the college’s Business Studies Department, Honors Program, the Center for Teaching Excellence, and a new Center for the Study of Ethics, among other programs. As those departments move to their new home, their old spaces will be renovated for new use, according to Mr. Cesareo, who said the academic center project would have a “domino effect” on campus.