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Disability in the News.

Rutgers $10M building plans feature neuroscience center.

Saturday, October 10, 1998 JOHN MOONEY

Rutgers University moved forward Friday with more than $10 million in building projects for its New Brunswick campuses, including a new neuroscience center for researchers and expanded dining hall for students.

Approved by the university's Board of Governors, the projects cap nearly $100 million in new construction work at the flagship school over the past several years, officials said.

"We've really got into a pretty good situation for the future," said Joseph Whiteside, university treasurer. "Our focus now will be more on our older buildings, and the maintenance and modernizations that have to be done."

The new Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, scheduled for completion next fall and costing about $3.2 million, will be on the Busch Campus. It will provide a central home to the university's spinal-cord research, which has gained national attention lately under Professor Wise Young.

Young, who will direct the center, has helped develop some of the most promising treatments for paralysis and other spinal-cord injuries.

"This will be a state-of-the-art lab, designed to promote collaborative research while keeping sight of the goal: research against a terrible health problem afflicting 90,000 Americans," said Joseph Seneca, vice president for academic affairs.

"There is now hope," he said. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if this this lab and this commitment would lead to a tremendous benefit for our society?"

The Board of Governors also approved a $2.5 million expansion of the Busch Dining Hall on the Busch Campus. It's scheduled for completion in early 2000.

The expansion will allow the school to close the campus' Davidson Dining Hall and convert the space to the university's main computer operations center. That project will cost an additional $2.5 million, officials said.

Also among the projects approved Friday was a $3.9 million renovation of offices and other facilities inside the Louis Brown Athletic Center on the Livingston Campus. The project will be funded mostly by the state.

Rutgers already has several major projects under design or construction. The largest is a $49 million law school building in Newark, which is set to open next year. Also planned is a $10 million plant science research center and a $4 million expansion of the Zimmerli Art Museum, both in New Brunswick.  
 

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