New buildings at SUNY Adirondack taking shape – Glens Falls Post-Star

QUEENSBURY The skyline at SUNY Adirondacks campus is being transformed as two new buildings rapidly take shape.

The college is building additions on both sides of its current science building. A $17 million two-story addition is going up to house nursing, science, technology, engineering and math programs on the south side, and the $9.7 million one-story Adirondack Regional Workforce Readiness Center is going up on the north side.

Construction began last fall on the science wing and in late February on the Workforce Readiness Center. The work is progressing nicely and staying on budget, according to SUNY Adirondack President Kristine Duffy.

The science building is scheduled to be ready to move in August. Theyre furiously moving along. The Workforce Readiness Center is still ahead of schedule, she said.

Good weather helped move up the start of construction on the workforce center from late March to early February.

Duffy recently had a chance to tour the construction. The first floor of the science wing will have five science laboratories and a greenhouse. The second floor will house four more laboratories and two classrooms.

The space is just phenomenal, she said. Students and faculty will be absolutely thrilled.

Lots of student study spaces are located throughout the building, Duffy said. The classrooms are bigger and more appropriately sized for the program. The seating is easy to move around to get away from the traditional classroom chairs and desks.

The rooms also have better natural lighting, she added.

The windows bring in the beauty of our region, she said.

Once the science addition is completed, everyone will move out of the existing science space, she said.

The current science building will be renovated. Thats where a lot of the nursing program will go next spring, she said.

That space will be transformed into offices, computer classrooms, practice labs, nursing simulation labs and tutoring spaces.

The Workforce Readiness Center should be done by the end of the year, Duffy said.

It will house the colleges Business Central, a one-stop shop for students who are looking for internships and jobs, an entrepreneurship center and a large meeting space that can fit 280 people.

The expanded and renovated building is being renamed Adirondack Hall. The colleges trustees approved the name change at its meeting last month.

Half of the cost of the science building is being covered by the state, the other half by Warren and Washington counties. Warren County is responsible for about $5.76 million and Washington County $2.74 million. The Workforce Readiness Center is being funded by a $9.7 million SUNY 2020 grant.

Also under renovation this summer is a portion of Warren Hall to create the Student Success Center, which will consolidate services for students in one location and include a new student advising center.

At the Scoville Learning Center, renovations include relocating the Accessibility Services Suite into the facility. That will place it next to the Center for Reading and Writing and Mathematics Lab, which will help improve student referrals, increase collaboration and improve efficiency, according to college officials.

The project is funded by state funding and by chargebacks, the money the college receives from counties outside Warren and Washington when students in those communities attend SUNY Adirondack.

Duffy also said she is excited the college realized its $2.1 million Reach New Heights capital fundraising goal. Of that, $1.6 million is for furnishings and equipment.

Its exciting to us that 30 percent of our donors were new donors to the college, which I think is a testimony to the community spirit for this college, she said.

You can read Michael Goots blog, A Time to Learn, at http://www.poststar.com or his updates on Twitter @ps_education.

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New buildings at SUNY Adirondack taking shape - Glens Falls Post-Star