Modernized lab space celebrated at grand opening event on Oct. 15
By Stephanie Smaglo | October 31, 2014
Business students can use it to detect website usage patterns. Criminal justice majors can study the relationship between stress and pupil response. Psychology students can identify a child’s interest in objects or faces. An eye-tracker, a device that measures eye movement and activity, is just one of the special features in Virginia Wesleyan’s recently modernized Floyd E. Kellam Jr. Social Science Lab, which will provide numerous cross-disciplinary and undergraduate research opportunities for students. A special grand opening event for the lab was held on Oct. 15.
Members of the Virginia Wesleyan community, including VWC President Billy Greer, the Board of Trustees and many who made generous contributions toward the project, gathered for the unveiling of the modernized space, which was officially completed in summer 2014. Guests received a detailed tour of the lab and listened to a presentation by Assistant Professor of Psychology Taryn Myers, who served as chair of the Social Science Lab Redesign Committee.
“A total of 58.5 percent of VWC students major in disciplines within the Division of Social Sciences,” says Myers. “So for them to have access to a space like this, and have a dedicated research space within the lab, is really important.”
Private support for the project was leveraged by a generous $250,000 challenge grant made by The Cabell Foundation that required matching funding on a two-to-one basis. Additional gifts and pledges were received from Gary ’79 and Debbie Bonnewell; The Collenberg Family; Ruth C. Cunningham; Jane and Jim Eilertsen; Rita Frank; The Floyd E. Kellam Jr. Family Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation; The Morgan Foundation; The SunTrust Foundation; and more.
“I’m just so grateful for the donors who contributed,” Myers says. “It couldn’t have happened without them. Their donations are what turned this dark, dreary space into a beautiful, airy, technologically advanced lab we have today.”
The redesigned lab, which cost approximately $750,000 total, features 10 usable, independent spaces: the SunTrust Foundation Computer Classroom; a versatile Multipurpose Classroom that can be used for group work, discussion and speakers; an interview room; an observation room; the Women’s Resource Center; a research lab; three faculty offices; and a faculty workroom.
Modernization of the lab coincides with the introduction of the College’s new Bachelor of Social Work degree, which saw its first graduates in May 2014. The new degree and the renovated lab provide the direction and facilities needed to fully engage students and set a foundation for excellence in course work and future careers.