BALTIMORE (May 3, 2016) – A contingent lead by Dr. Wallace Loh, President of the University of Maryland at College Park, and attended by various university administrators; officials with St. John Properties, Inc., including Edward St. John and other business leaders, participated in a hardhat tour of the Edward St. John Learning Center that is currently under construction on the College Park campus. The $63 million Center will serve up to 14,000 students daily upon its completion at the end of this year. The project represents the first new academic building constructed on McKeldin Mall in more than 50 years.
“A new way of teaching will be implemented in this state-of-the-art building, and teachers will interact with students in a profound and productive manner,” stated Ed St. John, Founder and Chairman of St. John Properties. “When I attended school here, there were ten to fifteen people in my classes. As I neared graduation, I noticed the freshmen class size had grown to 150 students in some instances. How can they learn in that environment?
“Back then, students were expected to remain quiet in the classroom and listen to the professor. Now, they are encouraged to speak their minds and express opinions. This building will foster a more active style of learning and fundamentally strengthen the University.”
The 180,000 square foot Teaching and Learning Center will house 1,830 seats of instructional space, nine chemistry laboratories, eight flat collaborative classrooms, five tiered collaborative classrooms, five seminar rooms, three study lounges and three cafés. The lecture hall will become the third largest on campus and can support approximately 330 students. It was designed to serve as a national model of collaborative learning and to create new spaces enabling students to launch their own business enterprises.
“Education has the power to transform lives and strengthen communities,” St. John added.
Edward St. John, graduated from the University of Maryland in 1961 with a degree in engineering. St. John Properties was founded in 1971 and currently owns and manages more than 17 million square feet of R&D/flex, office, retail and warehouse space in Maryland, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Utah and Wisconsin. For more information about the company, visit www.sjpi.com.
