DECADES IN THE MAKING — UAF OFFICIALLY OPENS NEW SCIENCE BUILDING ON MAIN CAMPUS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 1995

Fairbanks, Alaska - A top university priority for more than two decades, the University of Alaska Fairbanks today at 12:30 p.m. will dedicate a state-of-the-art lecture hall and officially open a long-awaited and much-needed science facility, the first new classroom building on the main campus in almost 25 years.

The Gruening Building, constructed in 1971 and opened in 1973, was the last new classroom facility at UAF. Since that time, UAF's student enrollment has steadily been climbing.

According to UAF College of Natural Sciences Dean Paul Reichardt, one of the lead proponents of the new facility, the university’s continued and future excellence in science is tied to the opening of the new building. The facility houses the departments of chemistry, physics and geology and provides much needed classroom space, research space and a new lecture hall.

Today Fairbanks and university officials will dedicate the Pearl Berry Boyd lecture hall in the science building in honor of a pioneering Alaskan family.

Pearl Berry Boyd, who died in 1990 eight months before her 100th birthday, was the daughter of H. Frank Berry, one of the mining Berry brothers who rose to prominence in the Fairbanks area at the turn of the century.

The town of Ester, Alaska, was called “Berry” until 1965 because of its proximity to the Berry brothers’ mining claims.

Pearl Berry Boyd made possible one of UAF’s first major private contributions, which honored her uncle Clarence J. Berry, inventor of the steam point method of thawing permafrost. The invention revolutionized Alaska’s mining industry, changing it from a seasonal to a year-round business.

Berry Boyd endowed music and mining/natural resources fellowships in her name and that of her uncle. The $12,000 fellowships are alternated annually between UAF music and natural resources/mining students.

The Pearl Berry Boyd Hall is a state-of-the-art lecture facility in a building designed for maximum energy efficiency. Argon gas-filled windows contain a double reflective film which keeps warm air in and summer heat out.

Classrooms and lecture halls are equipped for closed-circuit television and fiber optic communications. Fume hoods in laboratories have an energy management system which warn users if they’ve been open too long. The ventilation system of the building extracts heat from the fume hoods. The waste heat then warms the water in coils used to heat fresh air entering the building.

Dick Wadlow, University of Alaska Board of Regents Vice President Mike Kelly and CNS Dean Paul Reichardt will demonstrate the state-of-the-art lab facilities in the Pearl Berry Boyd Hall by performing an edible science experiment. Using liquid nitrogen and a mix, the two will create instant ice cream to serve to guests after a brief ceremony at 12:30 p.m.

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CONTACT: College of Natural Sciences Dean Paul Reichardt(907) 474-7608, or UAF Public Information Officer Debra Damron (907) 474-7581.

DPD/9-19-95/96-16