Wednesday, Oct. 8, marked 10 years since the dedication of the A. Paul Schaap Science Center as one of the nation’s premiere undergraduate science education facilities.
The science center, which was dedicated on Friday, Oct. 8, 2004, during Homecoming Weekend, houses the departments of biology, chemistry and biochemistry, the geological and environmental sciences, nursing and psychology. It was designed to complement the college’s on-going emphasis on collaborative student-faculty research as a teaching model, and organized to facilitate connections, roles in which it has excelled in the decade since it opened.
"The A. Paul Schaap Science Center has had a significant impact on Hope's national reputation for excellence in the sciences,” said President John C. Knapp. “Through its state-of-the-art facilities, designed to foster student-faculty research, to the common gathering and studying spaces that promote community and interdisciplinary partnerships, the Schaap Science Center has provided the space for Hope's faculty and students to take our science program to even greater levels of achievement and recognition. The Science Center is a beautiful building on our campus and adds to our competitive ability to attract and retain the most talented faculty and students. Our gratitude continues for the generous donors who supported this marvelous facility and the research and learning that takes place within it.”
Construction on the project began in March 2002. The facility includes an 85,900-square-foot building that was newly constructed and opened for the beginning of the 2003-04 school year, and the original 72,800-square-foot Peale wing, which had opened in 1973 and was renovated after the new building was completed. The science center was named in honor of 1967 Hope graduate Dr. A. Paul Schaap and his wife Carol of Grosse Point Park on May 5, 2006, in recognition of a leadership gift they made on behalf of the project.