Southern Arkansas University officials announce plans for the new University Science Center to be completed within the next year, a timeframe that will coincide with the University’s Centennial Celebration.

“This is going to be a tremendous facility with state-of-the-art technology that will serve students who are beginning our next centennial of success at Southern Arkansas University,” said SAU President Dr. David Rankin.

According to Jasper Lewis, associate vice president for facilities, the cost of the 64,000-square-foot project is estimated to be $16,747,986, which includes the main building, district cooling system upgrades, parking, landscaping, furniture, audiovisual equipment and design fees. The general contractor for the project is CDI Contractors of Little Rock and the architects are WER and Associates of Little Rock.

The new facility will house the departments of biology, chemistry, and physics within the College of Science and Technology. Planning for the Center began in 2003 when the Arkansas General Assembly appropriated $240,000 to SAU to prepare a proposal for a science building. During the next two bienniums, the University received additional funding, and in 2006, Governor Mike Huckabee awarded $601,747 to the project. Governor Mike Beebe followed with a $1 million award in 2007.

As a result of a special election and the passage of the Higher Education Technology and Facility Improvement Act, SAU will receive $1,432,980 for the project. The University has also issued bonds in the amount of $14 million.

“The Southern Arkansas University Science Center will be the type of facility that will ensure that students who use the facility will be exceptionally well prepared for work or further education when they receive their degrees,” Rankin said. “Classes are currently held in five different buildings, and this center will help centralize many of the programs.”

The SAU Foundation is continuing to seek gifts for the completion of this project. Naming opportunities are available for many of the classrooms and offices. Please contact the SAU Foundation at 870-235-4078 for more information. The date for a planned ground breaking ceremony will be announced in the near future.

And Southern Arkansas University’s Web Site Coordinator Shelley Keith launched a profile on SAU the day of the launch, making SAU one of, if not the first University, to take advantage of this new offering.

“We can take advantage of some of the features profiles have that groups really didn’t like unlimited photo albums, news feeds and an event system that will invite students to attend events on campus,” Keith said. “This way we have one place instead of a million groups so that we have one single university presence.”

The key advantage of being able to use Facebook in this way is that it gives yet another way to connect with students and ensure they know what is happening on campus. Keith views Facebook as advantageous to some of the more traditional postings on the University Web site because students may not be as apt to spend as long there as they are on a site like Facebook where they can also interact with friends and be informed about upcoming events.

“I am really excited about it because Facebook puts the information right in front of them in the environment they are already using,” Keith said.

The University Communication Department, which includes Keith, will also be able to use the new organizational profile to identify students in photographs that could be possibly used for publications, she said.

Karine Joly, a Web marketing professional and the Web editor of www.collegewebeditor.com said she commends SAU for being on the forefront of this offering by Facebook.

“It was impressive that yesterday, just a few hours after the announcement was made on the corporate blog of Facebook, SAU was among the first few early-adopters in higher education to launch its own Facebook Page,” Jolly said. “The new Facebook Pages are going to be a better — more appropriate — way for administrators to engage with students and alums. When a Facebook user chooses to add an institution to his/her organizations, all his/her friends would be notified automatically. This should unleash a viral effect that will help universities grow the numbers of their followers and Facebook users.”

Another compliment came from Colleen Brennan-Barry, assistant director for Web Communications at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York and a member of the High Ed Web organization.

“Total kudos on the new SAU page! It looks great — way to lead the way,” Brennan-Barry said.

To access the SAU Facebook page visit www.saumag.edu and click “SAU Facebook” on the bottom of the page. Choose “Add to my organizations” to become a fan of SAU.