Introducing the new Father Bede Ernsdorff Center at Saint Martin’s University

We just finished a new building for SMU’s beakers and microscopes and other science-y whatnot

Last week we joined our friends from Saint Martin’s University and Tovani Hart on a sunny day for a ribbon-cutting and dedication of the lovely new Science facility we teamed to design and build.

The new 30,000 sf Ernsdorff Center houses the Reischman Department of Natural Sciences–named in honor of Father Placidus Reischman, who chaired the Biology Department from 1959-1987. The state of the art facility itself is named for the former head of SMU’s Chemistry Department, Father Bede Ernsdorff, who taught chemistry at the university for 44 years. Home to the school’s Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Mathematics departments, the new building will begin hosting classes later this month and help support the increase in Sciences enrollment the University has been tracking over recent years. 

For more information on the new building, its legacy, and its construction, check out this recent article in Thurston Talk, or this short video and article featured in the Olympia.