Construction Begins on UW Early Care and Education Center

July 7, 2004 -- Preschool students from the University of Wyoming Child Care Center sank small shovels into soil to mark the official groundbreaking of the new UW Early Care and Education Center.

Approximately 100 people attended the ceremony July 6 at the building site on 30th and Lodgepole streets in Laramie.

"This is going to be a great facility. It's not only going to be an excellent place for young students to be cared for and learn every single day in a safe and clean environment, but it's a wonderful opportunity for our faculty and staff to combine the best of education and service for our community," said UW President Philip Dubois.

The $2 million, 9,220-foot training and research laboratory is a joint effort of the colleges of Agriculture and Education. It will consolidate the current UW Child Care Center, Child Development Center, School-Age Care Program and College of Education Pre-K program, and also allow for the addition of infant and toddler care.

"This is really a wonderful opportunity to consolidate several of our facilities. It is truly an interdisciplinary effort," said College of Agriculture Dean Frank Galey.

"In addition to providing care for our children, it will provide a good, positive learning experience for our college students who will have that important role in later years of taking care of kids all over the state and region," Galey said.

College of Education Dean Patricia McClurg added, "The more we learn about human development, the more we realize the critical importance of rich early childhood educational experiences. This growing research base coupled with changing national demographics has resulted in a growing demand for knowledgeable early childhood professionals."

McClurg said she is confident the Early Care and Education Center will properly prepare these professionals and that it will positively impact the quality of early childhood education throughout the region.

"A facility where both state-of-the-art materials and strategies can be modeled and where research furthering our understanding of the complexities of human development can be conducted is an asset to the University of Wyoming," she noted.

Scheduled to open in the summer of 2005, the center will serve approximately 90 to 100 children. It will offer university-level preparation for students in nursing, kinesiology and health, developmental psychology, and communications disorders.

"This is a very happy and exciting day for all of us," said the master of ceremonies, Associate Professor Karen Williams, head of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences and a key player in the planning of the new facility.

Mark Bittner, coordinator of the Child Care Center and the Child Development Center, and Cleta Booth, a pre-K teacher and apprenticeship supervisor with the UW Lab School, will co-direct the new facility.

Attending the ceremony were representatives of the general contractor, Spiegelberg Lumber and Building Co. of Laramie; the architect/engineer, TSP of Sheridan and Denver; and the mechanical/electrical engineering consultant, Gordon, Gumeson and Associates Inc. of Denver.

Posted on Wednesday, July 07, 2004