June 17, 2008 — UT-Battelle has announced a $100,000 gift to help build new laboratories at Roane State Community College's Oak Ridge campus. The gift is part of the college's fundraising campaign to build new classrooms and science laboratories.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason made the announcement to Roane State President Gary Goff at a recent meeting of the East Tennessee Economic Council. "UT-Battelle considers Roane State a critical partner in the effort to provide the job skills needed to help continue the Laboratory's growth," Mason said. "We are impressed that in less than a decade the Oak Ridge campus has become the largest among the nine campuses of Roane State Community College that include more than 11,500 students annually."
Roane State is embarking on a $25 million expansion project of the Oak Ridge campus. Plans include a 53,000-square-foot building that includes new laboratories for physics, anatomy and physiology.
"The UT-Battelle gift is a great contribution that we hope will expand our allied health, nursing and technology programs and make us an even stronger part of the community's future," said Gary Goff, President of Roane State Community College.
As part of the expansion effort, Roane State is pursuing a National Science Foundation planning grant to develop a nanotechnician curriculum and design a nanotechnology Regional Advanced Technical Education Center.
UT-Battelle has donated more than $4.5 million to education outreach initiatives since becoming the managing contractor of ORNL. As part of efforts to strengthen science education, UT-Battelle has equipped more than 40 area high school science laboratories.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.