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Home» Message from the Director
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 September 29, 2003
Dear Friends,
It's hard to believe that the summer research season at the MBL is winding down already. This year was especially exciting and successful both in terms of research and in planning for the renovation and expansion of the Whitman Building, home of summer and visiting research at the MBL. This success is in large part due to the efforts of Robert Goldman, who agreed last spring to serve as interim director of the newly formed Whitman Center for Visiting Research at the MBL and to chair the Whitman Redesign Advisory Committee (see a list of members below).
I am delighted to announce that Bob has accepted my invitation to serve a three-year term as Director of the Whitman Center. As Chairman of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Northwestern University Medical School, Bob brings a wealth of research, administrative, and fundraising experience to this position. Bob’s duties as Whitman Center Director will include overseeing the renovation planning process and assisting me and the Development staff in raising the funds required to carry out our renovation and expansion plans.
Thanks to Bob's outstanding leadership over the summer, the efforts of the Whitman Redesign Advisory Committee, the architects from Tsoi/Kobus & Associates and MBL staff, as well as thoughtful input from the summer research community, we are pleased to report that a preliminary design for the Whitman Building is nearing completion. As soon as these plans are available, we will post them on the MBL's web site.
The Process
The decision to renovate and ultimately expand the Whitman Building was a significant outcome of the Strategic Planning process, which began nearly two years ago. The following is a summary of our progress to date:
- In the Spring of 2002, the Strategic Task Force on Summer and Visiting Research recommended to the Steering Committee that the summer/visiting research effort be given Center status.
- In June 2002 the Strategic Task Force on Facilities identified the Whitman Building as the facility with the greatest number of deferred maintenance needs at the MBL.
- In August 2002 this same Task Force recommended to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee that the Whitman Building be completely modernized, reconfigured, and expanded. This was subsequently reported to the Board of Trustees.
- In November 2002 the Board of Trustees agreed that the Whitman Building should be renovated and authorized the hiring of an architect, agreed to create the Whitman Center for summer and visiting research and asked that an interim director of the Whitman Center be appointed and that an advisory committee to help with the redesign effort be established.
- In March 2003 the MBL selected the firm of Tsoi/Kobus & Associates to develop a design for the Whitman Building. The Board also approved the expenditure of $1.2 million to fund the design phase of the project.
- During the summer of 2003 Bob Goldman, Bill Speck, John Dowling and members of the Whitman Redesign Advisory Committee held two meetings with the summer research community. Architects from Tsoi/Kobus presented various floor plans and the audience was encouraged to provide feedback. Bob assured the summer community that no summer would be lost to research due to renovations, which would not begin until spring of 2005 at the earliest.
- In addition, Bob, the Advisory Group and MBL staff held weekly meetings to further fine-tune the designs. As mentioned, the preliminary designs are nearly complete.
- In September 2003, Bob Goldman was asked, and agreed, to serve a three-year term as Director of the Whitman Center.
Next Steps
Once we have preliminary designs for the renovation in hand and the project has received final approval from the Board of Trustees, we will begin developing marketing materials to assist our fundraising efforts for the project. The project is currently estimated to cost $20 million, including an endowed maintenance fund. We must have a considerable portion of these funds raised before construction can begin. We expect to have our marketing materials finalized by late fall and to begin active fundraising soon thereafter.
If fundraising is successful, we hope to begin renovating the Whitman Building by the spring of 2005. As mentioned earlier, the project is being designed and phased to minimize the impact on summer research activities even during actual construction.
We will continue to keep you updated as plans for the renovation and expansion of the Whitman Building progress. In the meantime, your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Best wishes,
Bill Speck
William T. Speck, Director and CEO
Whitman Redesign Advisory Committee
Robert Goldman, Northwestern University, Chair
Peter Armstrong, University of California, Davis
George Augustine, Duke University
Leah Haimo, University of California, Riverside
Avram Hershko, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Dan Johnston, Baylor College of Medicine
Roger Sloboda, Dartmouth College |
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Staff:
Richard Cutler, Director of Facilities and Services
E.A. Dawidowicz, Director of Education
Andrew Mattox, Manager of Environmental Health & Safety
Architect:
Jonathan Cohen, Tsoi/Kobus & Associates
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