Trustees dedicate School of Informatics building

The IU board of trustees will dedicate one building and discuss the construction of another at its meetings today and Friday.\nThe trustees will formally dedicate the new School of Informatics at 4:30 p.m. today at Tenth and Woodlawn, where the school is located. \nBoard of trustees President Fred Eichhorn said the new building, which formerly housed the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, is historic for the University.\n"This is an important structure in the history of IU when the school comes online," Eichhorn said. \nEichhorn said one of the reasons Informatics is so popular is because it shows the promise of being a money-maker for IU. \n"Informatics is timely," Eichhorn said. "People will continue to invest in such ventures because they drive the market."\nTrustee Peter Obremsky said since its inception in 2000, he saw Informatics quickly emerge as one of the premier schools on campus. \n"It will eventually evolve into one of the most important schools at IU," Obremsky said. "It also is a longterm investment which will shape IU's future."\nWith over 800 undergraduates currently choosing Informatics as their major, Trustee Sue Talbot said the growing enrollment in the program shows that the building will continue to be an important asset to the University.\n"It's already proved itself," Talbot said. "It's responsive to the students and graduates in the school. If you notice, the enrollment rate is impressive for a new school. As time goes by more students will choose informatics as a major."\nNew construction\nOther building efforts will be the focus of the trustees' time, including renovations for Teter Quad and the construction of a new multi-disciplinary science building. \nThe science building, which is planned to be built between Myers Hall and Chemistry, will house many different programs and is an effort to promote interdependence among different disciplines, Obremsky said.\n"It's an effort to bring all of the sciences together in one building," Obremsky said. "The building is second to none. We see biology and chemistry and physics are all becoming interrelated as time goes by and this building is an effort to combine them."\nAt the committee meetings, the board will discuss the architectural design of the building. Currently, they are considering constructing the building in the Art Modern version of Collegiate Gothic style of architecture with cut limestone used in the main facade.\n"We want to make sure the design is pleasing to the staff," Trustee Sue Talbot said. "Because our faculty are those people who will be using the building, so we want to make sure it satisfies them."\nThe board will also consider approving funds for the renovation of the Academic Support Center in Teter Quad. The project will include the reconfiguration of over 16,000 sq. ft. and will move all academic support services currently at Ashton to the new center. The project is estimated to cost $995,000 and will be funded through Residential Programs and Services. \nOther issues\nToward the end of the meetings, the board of trustees will take an official vote on the candidacy of Charles Bantz for the position of chancellor for IU-Purdue University-Indianapolis and vice president of long range planning. In addition, the board will change its records to reflect both Interim President Gerald Bepko and Former President Myles Brand in their new positions. Brand's new official title will be President Emeritus of IU and will state that he is on a "leave of absence without pay effective January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2008."\nOther issues that will be discussed among the board of trustees are a new biocomplexity institute, the budgetary situation with the General Assembly, an update from the presidential search committee and Dean of Students Richard McKaig's ongoing efforts to promote a "dry" campus.