|
Stating in a press release
that the college was proud to unveil the final stages of work at the
center, Lincoln College President John Hutchinson told the
gathering: "We believe the new Athletic and Convocation Center and
the larger space for the Lincoln Heritage Museum are absolutely
critical to the success of Lincoln College, both in terms of student
recruitment and in our desire to have a positive impact in the local
community." Hutchinson said again what he said at the groundbreaking
in June of last year: "We feel this is the most important building
in the last 100 years to be built on this campus." John Bishop,
senior project architect of the Farnsworth Group, is a Lincoln
College alumnus from the Class of 1990 and led the media through the
work in progress.
Although the exterior work is near completion, crews of
drywallers and installers were about the building, turning the rooms
into a finished product.
Hutchinson indicated after the tour that he is continually
surprised by the amount of work that gets done on a weekly basis. "I
come here frequently and see significant and dramatic changes every
time I visit," he said.
The Lincoln Center will be used as a community facility to house
athletic events, concerts and fine arts performances, exhibits, a
fitness center, and the Lincoln Heritage Museum.
The Athletic and Convocation Center is expected to open by the
end of the year, with Hutchinson stating a date of early December,
and the Lynx will begin hosting athletic events in January 2010. The
first commencement ceremony will be held for the graduating Class of
2010 in May. The museum will be completed later, with a grand
reopening planned sometime in 2011.
"The arena and fitness center will aid us in attracting students
to Lincoln College and in reaching our enrollment goals," Hutchinson
said. "The Lincoln Center will be available to the public through
fitness center memberships and will be a great venue in which to
schedule and attend special events. The museum is already nationally
recognized, and the expanded exhibit space and events that can be
held there will bring additional prestige and tourism to the Lincoln
area."
[to top of second column] |
Some key features of the facility are its state-of-the-art wrestling
practice room and the ability to adapt the main gymnasium for
basketball, wrestling, volleyball and even fine arts performances.
The design and construction of the Lincoln Center incorporates
several "green building" features, such as recycled content in
ceilings, insulation and concrete components; using parking lot
demolition waste in the fill-in construction of the building pad
rather than diverting to a landfill; and using all low-VOC materials
in paints, adhesives, carpets and sealants, to protect air quality.
The new museum area, which will be six times larger than the old
museum, will also have state-of-the-art humidity controls, allowing
the museum to receive artifacts from other museums that include such
climate controls in their criteria for lending out valuable items.
Hutchinson said the college has already raised over $6 million
toward construction of the Athletic/Convocation Center and museum as
part of an overall comprehensive capital campaign, with another $4
million remaining to be raised. A variety of sponsorships, such as
commemorative brick pavers, valued from $250 to $1,000, as well as
naming and endowment opportunities valued from $10,000 to $2
million, are available to sponsors who would like to donate toward
the completion of the Lincoln Center.
Other ongoing fundraising efforts are also available for those
wishing to support scholarships, museum collections and development,
campus technology enhancements, faculty enrichment, the McKinstry
Library, and other campus needs.
At the conclusion of the tour, Hutchinson confirmed that the
Lincoln Center will be finished as scheduled and as planned without
any delays due to funding.
[Text from files received from
Lincoln College; LDN
staff]
Lincoln Center
media tour -- in pictures
Past
related articles
|
