President Barry Corey announced that the new science center will be funded without using student tuition and will allow all the science, technology and health departments to work together.
On Friday, Feb. 26, the official groundbreaking ceremony was held at the construction site. Corey and his staff including Greg Balsano, vice president of university services and Adam Morris, vice president of university advancement attended the event. About 150 Biola faculty and students were present at the event as well.
Alton Lim of Long Beach was also at the ceremony, who previously donated $12 million to initiate the building project. He donated to this project to make sure current and future students are able to spread the word of God through the various fields of science, health and technology throughout the world, Dan Lim, Alton’s son said.
WORKING TOGETHER
The new science center is the biggest building project in the history of Biola in terms of size and money. Because of the growing field of science, Corey and his staff wanted a new building that would embrace a new vision instead of replacing an old building. The building will enable all of the science and health majors to work together. It will contain state-of-the-art laboratories to assist students’ growth in their fields and help them find better opportunities in jobs and graduate schools. Corey states this building is the final step to reaching the science department’s fullest potential.
“The goal of Biola [is] to provide an education that is grounded in an understanding of God’s truth and then you have a building like this that is going to provide for these students opportunities to do student research with faculty members to be able to take that into internships,” Corey said. “If you look at the qualities of our students, the academic background of our faculty, the mission of Biola, the only thing we’re missing is the building.”
FINISHING IN TIME
Hayley Joel, sophomore biology major, attended the ceremony and believes this building will help prepare students to enter their fields with strong convictions of faith.
“I think it will show the world that the sciences and religion are not opposite, they can very much be together,” Joel said. “We can show [the world] that through Biola and through raising Christian scientists, we can show them that your faith can very much be a part of science and they don’t contradict each other.”
Their goal is to construct the building without using tuition dollars, relying solely on donations. They have received donations from around the world as well as from the Biola Campaign totaling $48 million. The whole project will cost about $55 million to build.
According to Corey, if El Niño does not hit and there are no delays, the project is set to finish in time to hold classes in spring 2018.
A COMBINATION
Angel Uscanga, junior nursing major, is excited for the building because she thinks it will distinguish Biola from other schools.
“I think it’s really cool Biola has the integration of science and faith and that it’s just so special because most schools make the distinction between either science or faith and not a combination,” Uscanga said.
