UW Early Care and Education Center Ribbon-cutting Aug. 24 |
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Aug. 17, 2005 -- A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the $2 million University of Wyoming Early Care and Education Center at 30th and Lodgepole streets in Laramie is set for 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24.
UW President Tom Buchanan, College of Education Dean Patricia McClurg and College of Agriculture Dean Frank Galey will participate. An open house and tour of the facility will immediately follow.
The ribbon will be cut by preschool, school-aged and college students. Representing UW students will be Associated Students of the University of Wyoming President Jon Hughes of Noblesville, Ind., and Vice President Becca Freeburn of Fort Laramie.
"This new Early Childhood Education Center provides two very important functions within one state-of-the-art facility," said Buchanan, who taught geography at UW before moving into university administration. "As an educator, I appreciate the opportunities it will give students enrolled in the colleges of agriculture and education for observing and interacting with young children as part of the learning process.
"As the parent of a son, now 19, who attended UW's child care center from ages 3 to 5, I appreciate the kindness, attention and early education he received in his formative years. Early childhood education and child care at UW have always been quality programs. This facility will make them even better."
The facility will officially open Aug. 29. The 9,220-foot training and research laboratory is a joint effort of the colleges of agriculture and education. It consolidates the former UW Child Care Center, Child Development Center, School-Age Care Program and College of Education Pre-K program, and it also allows for the addition of infant and toddler care. The facility will accommodate 90 to 100 children and will serve the instructional needs of about 300 students annually.
"This new facility is a great addition to our campus," said Galey. "It will allow us to provide top-rate training for our students interested in child and early care education while providing a quality experience for the children."
"We're excited to see 15 years' worth of dreaming and planning coming to fruition," said Karen Williams, associate professor and head of the College of Agriculture's Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, which administers the facility.
"We really will have a facility that can educate and train a variety of professionals who will work with children and families in multiple settings: teachers, family specialists, counselors, psychologists, nurses, social workers, dieticians, speech pathologists and audiologists, and others."
Mark Bittner, coordinator of the Child Care Center and the Child Development Center, and Cleta Booth, a pre-kindergartner teacher and apprenticeship supervisor with the UW Lab School, will co-direct the new facility.
"The completion of the UW Early Care and Education Center has been in the works for quite some time - literally since 1991 that I have been working on it, and even earlier for Dr. Peggy Cooney, who was the director before me," said Bittner. "There were many times I had almost resigned myself to the fact that it may not happen, but we certainly kept after it and just tried to find the people who could help us make it become a reality.
"As the only four-year institution in the state of Wyoming, we will be able to offer an opportunity for students to observe and train under master teachers who have been specifically trained and have degrees in this field," he noted.
Special features include a multipurpose area for gross motor activities, parent meetings, and multi-age programs; a breastfeeding support room; an on-site nursing station with temporary sick-child facilities; a science/solar room to encourage children's understanding of nature and how to grow plants; an observation room with computers and video capabilities to better serve college students' training needs; and a full kitchen with child-sized space to encourage cooking and nutrition-awareness activities.
Posted on Wednesday, August 17, 2005
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