Wold Center as seen from Hull Plaza

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Beginning in fall 2009, Union College will begin construction of The Peter Irving Wold Center for Science and Engineering.  The interdisciplinary Center will serve as a platform for learning, research and innovation and will solidify the College’s role as a national leader in the integration of science, engineering and the liberal arts.

Slated for completion by winter 2011, the three story 35,000 square foot research and education facility will house space for interdisciplinary programs such as Biochemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering, a high performance computer lab, state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms, and flexible incubator labs for leading edge interdisciplinary research. 

The Center will house a rooftop renewable energy lab and undertake research and demonstration projects related to energy and the environment.  The Center will also feature prominent display areas to showcase student and faculty members’ latest projects and discoveries.

In addition, the Center’s public spaces will draw Union’s liberal arts tradition into closer collaboration with science and engineering and will break down the distinctions between teaching and research.  The central glass-walled atrium, for example, will create an academic town square where informal student and faculty collaborations can take place and where members of the campus and surrounding communities will come together for academic, social and artistic programs.

The Wold Center is designed to achieve LEED Gold status from the U.S. Green Building Council through the incorporation of sustainable approaches to site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.  Potential alternative energy technologies, such as solar and geothermal technologies, are being considered for heating, cooling and lighting the building. 

Looking to the future, the Wold Center will become a prominent example of sustainable design and construction as well as a regional and national asset for its contributions to education and the advancement of science, engineering and the liberal arts in order to prepare students for today’s diverse, global and technologically complex world.

The Center will be named, through the generosity of John Wold ’38 and his wife, Jane, in honor of Peter Irving Wold, John’s father, and Professor of Physics at Union College from 1920-1945.

“Jane and I are pleased that we can help Union to further its unique mission as a leader in the liberal arts, sciences and engineering,” said John Wold, one of the American West's leaders in the development of minerals and conservation of natural resources. “We look forward to joining with others who share our conviction that Union is especially well suited among America’s colleges and universities to offer the kind of broad and diverse education that is essential to leaders of this century."