The UConn 2000 baton will be passed next weekend with a groundbreaking on April 9 unofficially kicking off Phase II, and a dedication ceremony April 12, a symbolic close to the first phase of the 10-year building project.

The groundbreaking, scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, celebrates the beginning of construction work on a new building for the School of Business Administration. And, although it will be about two years before the nearly 100,000-square-foot building is completed, guests who attend the ceremony will be able to receive a virtual tour of the building, complete with 360-degree vistas of the building's atrium, a classroom and the courtyard.

UConn 2000 Website

The ceremony will be held at the site of the new facility, between the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and Homer Babbidge Library. Along with a new building planned for the School of Pharmacy that is expected to be built alongside the former Fairfield Road, the structures will create a new quad in the center of the complex, which will also be bordered by the Homer Babbidge Library and the graduate residence halls. The mall concept is consistent with the University's master plan.

"This building will offer our students the opportunity to study for their careers in real-life settings," says Thomas G. Gutteridge, dean of the business school. "The space is designed to facilitate students working in teams, and it will offer everything necessary for today's high technology business world, from computer plug-ins at each desk to audiovisual capabilities and distance learning opportunities."

The structure also will provide conference rooms and other areas for interactions with the state's business community.

A reception will be held in the William Benton Museum of Art immediately after the ceremony, which features addresses by Jonathan Schofield, '62, chairman and chief executive officer of Airbus Industries of North America and chair of the business school's Board of Overseers; Gutteridge; and student leaders.

Three days later, Ed Wasserman, president of the American Chemical Society, will address faculty, staff and students attending the dedication of the new chemistry building, and the naming of the research wing of the building after long-time department head Charles E. Waring.

The 2 p.m. ceremony April 12, in the building's 248-seat auditorium, will fete the now completely occupied, 199,000-square-foot building and the department's commitment to teaching, research and public service, as evidenced by the building's configuration - one wing for research, one wing for teaching, and another, located between the two, for administrative offices and conference areas. The public service commitment is highlighted by a completely outfitted laboratory built to scale for middle school students, and an auditorium, complete with mobile fume hoods and laboratory equipment, also built to match the height of middle school students.

Following the ceremony, there will be a reception in the building's main lobby and tours of the facility.

Richard Veilleux