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College of Pharmacy on north side of Fort Wayne
Academic Center, College of Pharmacy
take their stands, firmly: Students First!
Momentum. Its pace rumbles the ground, sometimes screeching in the still winter air.
On the College Mall and an hour east amid a Fort Wayne health-care hub, Manchester College is visibly and audibly on the rise as it creates new learning facilities.
A climb up the steps of the Academic Center shows exciting progress, top down. The learning center will provide modern, accessible, energizing space for 43 faculty members and their 240 classes next fall.
Connecting the floors: a 2½-story atrium, and, at last, full accessibility to all of Manchester’s curriculums. (That elevator arrives later, in pieces like a puzzle, says Chris Garber ’77, director of operations.)
Education offices, labs and classrooms are nearly ready for furniture on the third floor, the new home also for communications and psychology.
Insulation still peeks through along hallways on the second floor, a hint of the welcome soundproofing between classrooms on every floor. Students in sociology, peace studies, religion, philosophy, political science, history and social work will gather on second.
On a recent visit, “naming” donors scanned the first floor – the opportunities steel-framed before them, offices and classrooms unobstructed yet by drywall and doors. Accounting, business and economics areas and a tiered auditorium soon will take form. English and modern languages also will have good space on first.
Many offices and some classrooms on all floors are supported with “named” donations by contributors to the Students First! campaign. But the Academic Center still needs funding. The College has raised about $3.7 million toward the $9 million cost. Learn more about putting Students First!
Outside, bricklayers are racing with the weather to complete the mall side; the other is complete. Window framing and other exterior trim and landscaping will reveal the design. The transformed Holl-Kintner will be greener, including ventilation systems for each classroom, says Garber.
The Welcome Center for admissions is beginning to take form, too, with newly-installed floor-to-ceiling windows warming the work.
While the interior of the College of Pharmacy takes imagination to envision, the rising structure emphatically announces Manchester College’s presence in northeast Indiana health care.
Unlike the Academic Center, which had the footings and framework of Holl-Kintner, the College of Pharmacy building started from scratch. Framing is complete on the first floor, where some drywall is under way. The atrium is obvious on the horizon to passers-by on Dupont Road. “It’s a beautiful building,” says Garber.
Construction on both buildings is on-time, on-pace for early June move-in. The pace is fast, satisfying. Watch for yourself on SpartanCam III and V.
“It’s a good perspective – continuous improvement,” says President Jo Young ’69 Switzer. “It’s a good perspective for our students, for all of us."
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