THE RECORD Online

Fall 2002 News Briefs

Science Division Dedicates Two New Facilities

After many years of dreams and proposals, the faculty of the GC Science/Math Division dedicated a field station and observatory all their own and only two miles from campus. The John and Martha Ayers Science Field Station and the Leon Winslow Observatory represent great new opportunities for not only biology but all students on the GC campus.

The Ayers Science Field Station, named for Professor John Ayers who developed the Colorado Semester in the sixties, has been in the works since the early nineties when Greenville ceased sending classes to the Colorado Field Station. The project was funded in part by the sale of the Colorado property in 1993. At that time, the Science Division faculty proposed the college develop a field station closer to home so all students could use the facility.

The purchase of the new Field Station provided a place for another dream of the Science Division faculty – an observatory. Dr. Hugh Siefken spent four months designing the building and most of the actual construction was done by science faculty members. The observatory, started in fall 2000 and completed in February 2002, features an upper roof that can be retracted to expose the telescopes to the night sky. It also includes a classroom and a long table so that small, computer-controlled telescopes can be set up. Funds for construction of the observatory came primarily from a Catalyst Fund fed by alumni contributions – the remainder from a state grant. The observatory was named for Dr. Leon Winslow, a retired GC professor, who, Dr. Siefken is quick to point out, kept the dream alive for many years before the project actually began.

Last updated: January 17, 2003