The OSU Olentangy River Wetlands Research Park needs about $500,000 to complete its drive to fund a new $2.6 million research building.
The Ohio Board of Regents provided $1 million for this project, said Leigh Briggs, the major gift development officer for the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Science.
So far, the fund has raised nearly 80 percent of the building gifts and pledges and 13 percent of the operating endowment gifts to meet the goal of the drive, Briggs said.
The Olentangy Wetland Endowment, a permanent fund whose interest will support the park, also supports the fund Briggs said.
About $200,000 of the endowment goal $1.5 million has been raised. The status for the money that has been raised is 13 percent, which is $2,000 of the goal.
A major gift donation allows the donor to name a room in the facility. The average donation is about $25,000, Briggs said.
Construction of the building would be finished in May or June 2003, said William Mitsch, director of the Wetland Research Park.
The Ohio State School of Natural Resources oversees the research facility for the wetlands.
This new facility will give students hands-on experience, Mitsch said. Sixteen different classes at Ohio State will use the facility.
Labs will allow students to conduct their research and education at the wetlands. Students used to have to travel to Chicago to get experience at a wetland, he said.
Conferences and seminars on wetland research, now held in hotels, will be conducted in conference rooms in the new building.
Wright State University, Kenyon College, Shawnee State University and Youngstown State University will also use the facility, Mitsch said.
“This will be an incredible facility for undergraduates and graduates all over the campus,” Mitsch said.
