By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Contributor
With a 30 percent increase in life science students at UCLA from
1992 to 1998, the university has decided to create a Life Science
Teaching and Learning Center.
The new building, scheduled to be completed by winter quarter
2003, will cost at least $4.5 million and will feature one of the
five largest lecture halls on campus.
According to John Sandbrook, assistant provost of the College of
Letters and Sciences, 10 of the 14 large undergraduate life science
courses last winter quarter were held in Moore 100, Dodd 147 or
Dickson 2147.
“Being able to schedule a larger number of life science
courses in the Court of Sciences area, rather than North Campus,
should be beneficial to students who also take a lot of their other
courses in the Court of Sciences area,” Sandbrook said.
In addition, professors will have an easier time carrying
demonstration supplies from their offices to lecture halls closer
to the Court of Sciences, said Dean of Life Sciences Frederick
Eiserling.
“It’s really a hassle for professors to have to take
all of this stuff to a far building so they don’t do it and
students miss out,” Eiserling said.
The new building will be close to the current life science
building and south of the Bomb Shelter.
Currently, workers are building an underground water storage
tank, to be completed by summer 2001, to support increased air
conditioning.
The center will then be constructed above the water tank.
The first two floors of the building will include a classroom
that seats 55 students, two 20-seat seminar rooms and a 355-seat
auditorium.
The current life science lecture hall, which seats 220 students,
will be demolished in 2002 and replaced by a new research lab,
Sandbrook said.
If current discussions with a donor are successful, the
university will add a third floor to house the Institute for the
Environment, which was created in 1997 to provide an
interdisciplinary unit for environment-related issues. This will
increase construction costs from $4.5 million to $7 million.
The first $2.5 million will come from funds for the new research
lab, Sandbrook said. The other $2 million will be funded by the
College of Letters and Sciences.
Life Science Student Service Officer Tammy Johnson said the
department has needed more lecture space for some time.
“Having more space means that students can have classes at
better times,” she said.
She said devoting an entire building to life sciences allows
more flexibility in class scheduling since lecture halls
won’t have to be shared with North Campus classes.
But not every student feels the new building is necessary.
“A lot of South Campus students don’t get a chance
to go to North Campus,” said Ravi Menghani, a second-year
biochemistry student, who explained that having science classes in
North Campus allow students to cross over to another part of the
school.
“They get a chance to see a lot of the pretty North Campus
buildings,” he said. “It’s good the way it
is."
He added that university money would be better spent to reduce
lab fees.
Eiserling said the extra space is necessary due to increased
demands for life science courses.
“There’s been a shift in the number of undergraduate
students,” he said. “More students are just interested
in life sciences.”
With reports by Dharshani Dharmawardena, Daily Bruin Senior
Staff.