By RUDI HEMPE
CELS News Editor and Reporter

The “Quad” has been a central part of URI practically from its beginning back in the 19th Century but if Rhode Island voters approve a new spending proposal, the campus will have a second “quad” devoted to health science, research and technology.

The new “quad” would be a major focal point on the north side of the campus and would link the already-authorized Center for Biotechnology and Life Science (CBLS) building with three new buildings that would house the pharmacy, chemistry and nursing programs.

The plan, estimated to cost $140 million, was unveiled publicly recently by URI President Robert Carothers and Robert Weygand, vice president for administration, in concert with deans Jeffrey Seemann and Donald LeTendre, of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences and the College of Pharmacy, respectively.

If all goes well with the plan, i.e. garnering the blessing of the Regents this fall and the approval of the General Assembly next spring, the $140 million bond issue will appear on the ballot in the November 2006 election.

By that time, says Dean Seemann, ground will have been broken for the CBLS building which voters approved in the 2004 election.

The CBLS building, to cost $50 million, was sold to the state’s voters with the persuasive argument that the center would be a boon to economic development in the state, training people for careers in the biotechnology industry and related fields. The center would also forge linkages to some of the biggest employers in the state, providing research facilities and expertise.

The CBLS will be the first new element in the so-called North District Master Plan. That plan was started a few years ago with the idea that the north end of the campus should be “green and sustainable,” notes Seemann. In other words the new buildings would be designed to be energy efficient, the grounds more inviting and usable to pedestrians rather than cars and the general ambience more conducive to interaction among students, faculty and programs.

But if all the new plan for three additional buildings is approved, the CBLS won’t be the sole new element on the North District.

The CBLS building is a CELS project, noted Seemann, but with the addition of the three new buildings “This is now a University project, not just a CELS project,” he says.

All of the buildings would be positioned around a quadrangle of green space (see drawing). The L-shaped CBLS building is planned for the area to the north of Chafee Hall and to the east of the Social Sciences Research Center. Once the CBLS building is operating, tenants in the largely underground Biological Sciences Building would be moved to CBLS (as will be CELS staff and faculty now situated in other buildings on campus). The Biological Sciences Building, dubbed unaffectionately for years as “The Bunker,” will then be demolished.

The Biological Sciences building was supposed to be topped by 4-5 stories above ground. But that never happened and Seemann said studies show it would be more cost effective to demolish it than to try to refurbish it.

After the demolition, two buildings would be erected on the site—chemistry on the north side, parallel to Flagg Road and pharmacy on the south side, perpendicular to the Coastal Institute. The space between the two buildings will be converted to a green open space.

A third building to house nursing would be built on land to the northwest of Chafee.

The project actually calls for four and a half buildings, notes Seemann. Besides the CBLS, pharmacy, nursing and chemistry buildings there will be a structure on the south side of CBLS that will house the Center for Integrated Learning Technology, a common space for faculty and students to promote high technology learning.

Of all the new buildings, the one planned for chemistry will probably be the most welcomed by students and faculty. The Department of Chemistry has been housed in Pastore Hall ever since that venerable building was constructed in 1952.

Chemistry teaching and research facilities have undergone great advancements since that time and current research and safety standards now require modern technical systems. The new building would house teaching and research laboratories, classrooms and offices.

“Chemistry is the underpinning of everything we do in the sciences,” says Seemann.

The College of Nursing would be provided with a 50,000-square-foot building and house labs, classrooms, clinical practice areas, research space and faculty offices. The proposed location next to pharmacy would promote efficiency in the use of clinical training and treatment spaces.

The new College of Pharmacy building would replace Fogarty Hall which was built when the college’s enrollment was 150. Enrollment in pharmacy is close to 600 students now. The new building would contain the animal care facility. “Animals are essential for health research for humans,” notes Seemann.

The state can use more nurses and pharmacists and both of those buildings will permit increased enrollments—another point for the economic development argument that’s behind the whole project, adds Seemann.

The 150,000-square-foot CBLS building, already approved, will house classrooms, high-tech specialty laboratories, instrumentation, faculty offices, incubator space for technology commercialization and administrative space. It will also feature a 280-seat auditorium that could serve all of the programs around the quadrangle.

The whole complex will be somewhat of a departure from the past, notes Seemann.

The concept is “forward looking in terms of providing lesson spaces for students that will be similar” to the working spaces students will encounter in their careers. “These will be real-world spaces rather than just sitting students down in rows,” he adds.

The North District Hub also makes a lot of economic sense, says Seemann. The simultaneous construction of the nursing, pharmacy and chemistry buildings will bring efficiencies in construction.

If all goes well, URI’s second “quad” should up and running by 2010.