Last Friday, the university community officially broke ground on the I.W. “Ike” Cousins Center for Science and Innovation.
The building is named in honor of 1927 Oglethorpe alumnus Ike Cousins, a science major and three-sport letter man, and in recognition of a generous gift from the Cousins Foundation in Atlanta.
Cousins Center for Science and Innovation Groundbreaking
Members of the Cousins Family, the Oglethorpe Board of Trustees and donors gathered with faculty, staff and students for the formal groundbreaking of the new I.W. “Ike” Cousins Center for Science and Innovation.
The ceremony was held on the academic quadrangle in front of the soon-to-be remodeled Goslin Hall the day before Oglethorpe’s 2018 commencement. Construction on the project, which is projected to be completed by the fall of 2019, began this week.
Oglethorpe Board of Trustees Chair and Chick-fil-A, Inc. President & COO Tim Tassopoulos ’81 opened the festivities, which included remarks from Oglethorpe University President Larry Schall and the Cousins Foundation, Inc. Chair & CEO Lillian Cousins Giornelli. Giornelli is Ike Cousins’ granddaughter.
Oglethorpe will completely renovate the 20,000-square-foot Goslin Hall, which currently houses the sciences. A new modern, light-filled 25,000-square-foot addition, designed by Cooper Carry, will encompass the existing space, creating a completely reimagined 45,000-square-foot facility, featuring innovation and design-thinking spaces.
The Cousins Center for Science and Innovation will offer discipline-specific laboratory classrooms (Physics, Biology, and Chemistry, with smaller and separate specialty labs for each), independent study labs, open study rooms, workshops, and faculty offices. Laboratories and classrooms will merge, providing teaching space that is conducive to the melding of theory and practice.
