To see the new Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center is to see cutting-edge teaching and technology, and faculty working side-by-side with students across the science spectrum.
To stand before the Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center, poised so proudly on the Wittenberg landscape, is to stand before the future, a future that inspires, connects and empowers new generations of doctors, chemists, physicists, mathematicians and scientists to lead both on campus and off.
To enter the center is to witness a collaborative vision become a full-fledged reality, complete with a state-of-the-art research facility that will enrich science in the liberal arts and make a difference in the lives of countless Wittenberg students for decades to come.
To see the Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center is to see science in action at Wittenberg.
By Karen Saatkamp Gerboth '93
photos by Robbie Gantt and Jeff Smith '96
Learning by Doing
From cancer cell identification to brain morphology to cryptology, Wittenberg students and faculty engage in innovative, collaborative research projects every year. In the natural sciences alone, one-third of science majors work directly on research projects during their college careers. Such collaboration defines Wittenberg’s approach to science education, and the new Kuss Science Center continues that tradition.
The center’s vast laboratory space now allows the sciences to offer additional lab courses for both majors and non-majors so that students from all disciplines can experience hands-on learning. The new research areas adjacent to the labs further enhance those opportunities by providing room for more students to conduct summer research across the science curriculum. Combine the new space with the technological components housed inside, including a DNA sequencer and three electron microscopes, along with the latest cluster computer technology with super computing capabilities, and the Kuss Science Center now offers students unlimited avenues for exploration, creativity and scientific inquiry.
“Research is really the best way to learn how to do science,” said Tim Lewis, professor of biology. “In today’s world, you need a competitive edge, and quality research can give students just that.”
Tackling Today’s Challenges
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the pace of scientific knowledge accelerated to epic proportions, spurring revolutions in medicine, communication and even the global economy. Today that pace has quickened to the point that that body of knowledge doubles every seven years.
At the same time, students’ interest in science has grown tremendously so that today one out of every four Wittenberg students with declared majors study science. This key development means that research experience for undergraduates is an expected norm at Wittenberg, a norm the new Kuss Science Center marvelously fulfills.
The center puts Wittenberg at the forefront of human achievement and offers unprecedented possibilities for contributing lasting benefits to society. As new science discoveries tend to come from collaboration between the science disciplines, the Kuss Center, just like its neighbor Hollenbeck Hall, encourages partnerships between departments with an open design that makes science both enticing and accessible.
The strong cooperative programs found within the center’s walls, including ones in engineering, environmental studies, marine/aquatic biology, nursing and occupational therapy with such schools at Duke University and Johns Hopkins, among others, also provide access to research opportunities only imagined by earlier generations.
In a world in which technology and science carry extraordinary potential, students with liberal arts backgrounds bring ethics and influence to the equation, while the Wittenberg tradition of student-active learning, which permeates the Kuss Science Center, serves to prepare them for leadership roles in tomorrow’s laboratories.
Shaping Science
After designing more than 15 contemporary science buildings, architect Dennis Vovos said he and his Chicago firm of Holabird & Root may have outdone themselves with the Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center.
Trends in society at the start of the 21st century are witness to decreasing science literacy, and dropping numbers of scientists and engineers being produced by American colleges. The design and function of this generation of labs and classrooms is intended to play a role in reversing those trends.
“This is the poster child of great spaces,” Vovos said. “I think this is the best science facility we have done yet.”
The Kuss Center is warm and welcoming. Its beautiful atrium connects the old and new sections of the complex. It spans the space with glass, bathing the interior with natural light from the north and the south. Hanging walkways, gathering places and study nooks all gaze out over new campus vistas.
“The campus is so wonderful,” Vovos said, that the architects decided to angle the great wall at the entrance to take in a more generous slice of the beautiful view.
Natural light combines with burgundy trim, wood and slate tile to create a more natural environment where students and faculty will want to spend time. Even the two vast structural supports in the atrium are shaped like trees. “We hope people walk into the atrium and go ‘wow!’” Vovos explained.
Corridor windows open onto laboratories and classrooms in a way that demystifies science and promotes collaboration between individuals and disciplines. That interaction works the other way, too. Gathering spaces with whiteboards encourage faculty, students and interdisciplinary interaction outside of the classroom.
The faculty deserve a lot of credit for bringing the project in on time, under budget and so successfully realized, Vovos said, adding that it is among the most active and effective faculty groups with whom he has ever worked.
“This is a building that is forward-thinking,” he concluded. “It is a building that is looking to the future.”
Leading by Example
As a child, John Ritter loved geology. He enjoyed fossil collecting excursions as a young boy, and he found the adventure of every trip inspiring. Today, the associate professor of geology brings that contagious enthusiasm to each of his classes as he discusses the complexities of the Earth, the types of problems geologists examine and the tools they use to uncover the answers.
Such excitement for subjects pervades the halls and classes in the state-of-the-art Kuss Science Center, where professors regularly share their passion for learning with students as they lead them in new directions of discovery. The facility’s advanced technology and relaxing atmosphere further their enthusiasm.
“Now we can teach using 21st-century technology,” said Brian Shelburne, professor of computer science. “There is just so much more you can do if you have the technology.” Kristin Cline, associate professor of chemistry, agreed.
“With this technology, I will be able to show students more experimental data to illustrate scientific principles. We’ll be able to look at spreadsheets together to observe trends in data or to observe the effect of changing a variable in an equation.”
“It will be easier for us to include active-learning exercises in our phyiscs and astronomy classes,” added Dan Fleisch, assistant professor of physics.
The addition of “audio-visual equipment in the GIS lab will make geology come alive for students,” Ritter noted. “The field experience is everything to a geologist, and these new AV capabilities are critical for sharing that experience with students.”
“It’s just so beautiful and peaceful here in this new building,” added Dave Mason, professor of biology, and “it will really help with the teaching of science.”
Connecting a Community
Conceived by the faculty as a place where science touches and is touched by the larger community, the Kuss Science Center stands as the latest symbol of a community of scientists, scholars and students.
A spirit of inclusion flows through the center, and its generous windows open onto a campus where science and the humanities have shared the impulse for progress and excellence for more than 150 years.
That same spirit extends to the community Wittenberg calls home. For years, the university’s relationship with Community Hospital has provided access to unique research opportunities and equipment for students. Regional labs and clincis have also welcomed students as interns.
Such relationships have transformed science education on campus, and the space now available in the new Kuss Science Center will enhance those relationships even more. Just this summer, Wittenberg became one of only a dozen universities its size to house a Flow Cytometer, thanks to Community Hospital. The machine’s place in the center has already led to national training workshops for science faculty from research facilities in and outside of Ohio.
In addition, the extensive space will make more Wittenberg-sponsored conferences possible, which in turn will allow students from all disciplines to learn from esteemed faculty, scientistis and researchers from around the country.
Looking Toward the Future
When Richard L. “Dick” Kuss ’45 talks about his late wife, Barbara Deer Kuss, a sweet, loving smile always crosses his face. They met at Springfield High School back in 1939. He rode his bike to her house for their first date on April 12 of that year, and the two eventually married in 1944.
Barbara found the good in every single person, he said. She held the hands of patients as they were wheeled into surgery during her 30 years of volunteer service at Community Hospital. She listened to anyone and everyone with attentive, caring ears. She visited her mother every single day. She loved her family, her children, her grandchildren and the Wittenberg community. She committed herself to serving others, and she devoted her life to making a difference.
By the late nineties, however, Barbara noticed some physical weaknesses in her body, which forced her to undergo test after test at leading medical facilities, including the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and The Ohio State Medical Center. Doctors eventually discovered that Barbara had an unidentified neuromuscular disease, and she passed away on Dec. 5, 1999.
Three years later, Dick Kuss decided to honor Barbara, the woman who still makes him smile, in a way that she would have appreciated. The result is the new Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center. It is Kuss’ hope that thousands of Wittenberg students will use this facility to conduct innovative research, learn from esteemed faculty, work with state-of-the-art equipment and make a difference just like Barbara did. He also hopes that someday one of those students may even go on to find the cause and the cure for the disease that ended their 55 years together.
“She was really special,” Kuss said, and “she would have been happy that we supported this facility.”