CETA_1: Taken from the road by the Hospitality Center, Facing Webster Hall. Taken by Ryan Barrett

As the roof for the new College of Engineering, Technology and Aeronautics (CETA) building is put up, many students have been wondering about how the construction of the new CETA building is going so far. According to Angela Foss, the associate dean of operations and innovation for CETA, “We will have our first official classes in the building in January of 2020 and will be moving in the equipment in the fall of 2019.”

This timeline is only an estimate and will be affected based on weather throughout 2019.

According to Foss, they plan to put “a new quad in front of Washington [Hall] and CETA, there will be various sidewalks, greenery…[and] a lounge space.” Foss wants this new quad to be a place where “students can hang out and have a good time and [have] somewhere to go between classes when the weather is good.”

Sketch of Future CETA building (Entrance)
Design by Skanska Wilson HGA

According to University Campus President Patricia Lynott and Foss, there will be a café inside the new CETA building similar to ones in The Academic Center (ACC) along with some new “unique” learning spaces. One of these unique learning spaces is called the Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate (CDIO) hub. According to Foss, this room is designed with a “methodology about project-based learning particularly with engineering but can be used in a variety of disciplines.” Foss also sees this hub as a “fun place to teach a variety of classes,” and she hopes for some interdisciplinary work such as collaborations with the faculty for co-teaching courses along with student projects. According to Foss, there will also be an “ideation space which is meant to be a comfortable environment with lounge seating, with white boards and a display, so if you’re in a design process… you can do that in any discipline.” There will be four of these rooms and they are some of Foss’s favorite rooms and in her opinion, the “flagship rooms” of the new CETA building.

One of Lynott’s thoughts on the new building is that she hopes that “not only engineering students [will] use this building. It’s like in the education building. We have a building just dedicated to education [and it] kind of makes me sad. I want more classes delivered over to there because it’s going to be a great learning space.”

Foss’s thoughts on the matter are that she would also want more classes hosted in the new CETA building because when thinking about it as an engineer, you can create more when you have more diversity.

Some of Lynott’s final thoughts on the new CETA building are, “we as a school, we invest so much into the students by investing on new buildings like this one.”

Dr. Yan Xiang, the Dean of CETA, said, “we as a school are grateful for the new CETA building,” and that she would like to help make the new building a ‘STEM’ hub.

Foss also said that this building was designed to be very inviting for all students, not just CETA students.

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