by Stephanie Schiraldi | Mar 12, 2015 | News Slider
Students have a new friend in class in the McFarland Science Center — the sound of a drill. Construction crews are working on an addition on the west side of the original building. The project is part of the Lipscomb:Next campaign, an initiative to invest $125 million in the university by its 125th anniversary in 2016. The $8.5 million addition will include six new laboratories for organic chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and human anatomy and physiology. Despite a few setbacks, Mike Engelman, director of campus construction, said construction is about to start moving swiftly. “This week we are preparing to pour the concrete on the basement slab,” Engelman said. “After that slab is complete, we will start the next level and should really start seeing this building move quick as long as the weather cooperates.” The construction has drawn quite a few noise complaints from both students and professors in the process, though. Kent Gallaher, chair of the department of biology, said the noise originated after the construction company found a layer of rock settling on top of a layer of mud, which had to be removed. “The solution was a hammer through the rock layer to stabilize the foundation,” Gallaher said. “This was very, very noisy work that required a huge bulldozer-sized jack hammer.” Brittany Elmore, a junior elementary education major from Mt. Juliet, said that some of her professors have had to wait for the noise to stop before they could continue teaching. “It was so loud that no one could hear,” Elmore said. “It’s definitely hard to focus and is distracting sometimes, but it really hasn’t bothered me as much...
