Group plans for future biology buildings

“Interactive” and “collaborative” should be themes for planning a new generation of biology buildings at UW–Madison, according to a committee responsible for strategic planning in biology.

The committee has recommended that three new buildings in the Henry Mall complex be constructed to pull together faculty from a variety of departments who share similar teaching and research interests. The new buildings are planned to promote interaction between departments and new opportunities for collaboration.

The Biological Sciences Strategic Planning Committee is part of UW- Madison’s larger strategic planning effort that would guide decision-making for future campus buildings. Committee members are now looking for feedback on their plan from faculty, staff and students in biological sciences.

“This model of planning is a significant departure from the past, where departments would compete for limited resources without a sense of how each building fit within the strategic plan,” said committee member Thomas Sharkey, a botany professor.

The proposed new buildings include Microbial Sciences, which would integrate the departments of bacteriology, medical microbiology and immunology, and food microbiology and toxicology. A second building would replace two old biochemistry wings and house biochemists, structural biologists and molecular biologists. A third building would provide an expanded home for geneticists, and provide a campuswide focus for cellular and developmental biology and neurobiology.

For more information, including the full text of the committee’s report, go to its web site at http://www.neuroscience.wisc.edu/bsspc.htm. Comments can be made on the web site or to committee Chair Ronald Kalil at (608) 262-4903 or rekalil@facstaff.wisc.edu.