New university greenhouse construction to begin in September

Rapid progress is continuing on Ball State's new greenhouse with construction scheduled to tentatively begin in September, according to university officials.

"The facility that we have right now is a facility that has served us well for many years but it's ready to be replaced," said Michael Maggiotto, dean of the College of Sciences and Humanities.

Marc Ransford, the media relations manager at Ball State, said the construction budget is $770,000 and the total budget is $960,000.

Joe Rinard donated $600,000 in his wife's memory, Alice Rinard, who graduated from the university in 1954 with a Bachelor of Arts in English as well as a Master of Arts in speech pathology in 1963. The project will be funded through Ball State Foundation gifts.

"It's a long time coming and without the generous gifts of our lead donor and others like him this project would not be possible," Cheryl LeBlanc, a curator of the Wheeler Orchid Collection at the greenhouse, said.

The hope is to have the 1,600-square foot facility mostly completed by the 2012-2013 academic year, Maggiotto said. The plan is for there to be at least one and possibly two more phases for the project.

In addition, there will be an area outside of the 1,600 square feet that is approximately 660 square feet that will have an office, mechanical room and a growing area for the plants.

"We will be able to take care of the plants much better and more appropriately and share them with students, faculty and community," LeBlanc said. "We will have new, modern equipment that will function. The stuff we have right now is challenging."

The growing area of the new greenhouse will require an extensive infrastructure to control temperature, humidity and exposure to sunlight as it houses plants that come from all over the world.

"Controlling that environment becomes a very important aspect of the greenhouse itself," Maggiotto said. "So it's not just put them in a room and water them once a day. It's dividing the greenhouse into different areas and making sure you're replicating as closely as possible the environment from which they come."

These plants include the Wheeler Orchid Collection, which is one of the largest in the country.

"This collection really allows students and faculty to observe biodiversity within a particular family as the family of orchids have adapted to the various climates and environments in which they can be found," he said.

The new greenhouse will not only benefit Ball State students and members of the university community, but is something that citizens of Muncie can enjoy, too.

"Students get to understand by observation very clearly what biodiversity means," he said. "It's an equally important opportunity for outreach to communities, to children, to adults, to make them aware that we need to be stewards of this precious environment of which we are a part."

The current building will continue to stand next to the new greenhouse.

"The old facility stays in place at least as a short-term research facility until we find funding for future phases," LeBlanc said.

The new greenhouse is a good update from the 42-year-old building, which has served Ball State and the community well.

"There's just so many times you can repair something and then you simply have to replace it," Maggiotto said. "It has lived its useful life and we thank it for all the good service it's given us."


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