Remarks of Gregory L. Baker, PhD
Thank you Dean Lindsay. Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is a great day for the College and a great day for the New Church.
History of Effort for the Building
Being present at this first beginning of the construction of the college science center, and having just retired as a member of the college science faculty, I feel a bit like Moses, who never entered the Promised Land. But, I was there during the wilderness days, and for the next few minutes, I would like to give you an unofficial history that led us to this moment.
For me, the need for a college science building sprang into focus my first day on the job—a very hot, very humid summer day in August 1970, in my office on the 4th floor of Benade Hall. I had just arrived from Toronto, which is at least one climate zone cooler than Philadelphia, and had been doing research in a modern air-conditioned facility. In contrast, the top floor of Benade Hall seemed positively tropical! And, aside from the lack of climate control, it soon became evident that the shared science space in Benade Hall was too small to house both secondary and college science uses. Furthermore, when the term started, it was clear that the college students were not happy about returning to the secondary school building for their college lab sessions. However, we were all pioneers in the great enterprise of New Church education, and we hoped that there would soon be a science facility on the college campus.
Initial progress came in the mid 1980s, when the Academy president, Alfred Acton, chaired a small committee on science facilities. Burt Friesen, as head of secondary science, and I, as head of college science and mathematics, worked with Alfred on this. Ultimately, I drew up a rough plan for a modest 15,000 square foot facility on the college campus, with the idea that the secondary school would then take over the vacated space in Benade Hall. But, aside from some rearranging of the secondary school science space, no new college space was developed at that time.
Ten years later, in the mid 1990s, the Academy administration decided to look at space allocation for College programs, and hired some architectural space planners. Again, as chair of science and mathematics, I suggested to my science colleagues that we get ahead of the curve by providing the planners with our own assessment of the needs. Everyone pitched in. Dr. Allen Bedford was especially helpful in this effort, and in 1997 we presented the space planners with a document that described needed functional components. That document is well reflected in what is now going to be the final product.
Nevertheless, even at that point, there still did not seem to be sufficient political will, or financial resources, to jump-start the project. The reality of the science building became manifest only in 1999 or 2000 when Wren Doering, in memory of her husband Prof. Grant Doering, stepped forward to offer a substantial donation toward the erection of a college science facility on the college campus. Because of this major contribution, the Academy administration started to accept other contributions to the college science building. Clearly this was a popular cause, because even without a public fundraising campaign, the number of contributors now stands at well over 200. To get on this bandwagon, please drop off your check at Pitcairn Hall!
Once the science building because an officially sanctioned project, more plans and programs were drawn up. In 2005 Dr. Sherri Cooper was involved in the science section of the strategic plan, and she worked to provide another version of the 1997 plan. Then, more recently, she and Dr. Bedford were instrumental in bringing forth the present program for the science functions in the building. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the work of the specialists in science buildings from SST Planners, Cory English and Malena Aquino. Their contribution has been vital to the realization of a professional science facility on this campus.
Fitting that the Building be Named for GRD
The naming of this new center for Professor Grant Richardson Doering is more than fitting. He was my colleague for over twenty years and a good friend until his transition to the spiritual world in 1999. As a member of the college faculty for 33 years, he was admired and respected by students and colleagues alike. Grant had an easy social presence with generations of students. They were drawn to his office to discuss biology, the environment, career directions, or simply to pass the time of day in his congenial presence.
Grant was a scholar with a PhD in plant physiology and a pioneering environmentalist for the Pennypack Watershed. Prof. Doering knew that if we were ever going to have a New Church university, that we had to build a New Church College first. He would, indeed, have mightily applauded this new building as a major step forward in the realization of a complete college!
With these remarks, I would now like to turn the program back to Dean Lindsay, and thank you for your attention.
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