Colorado State University opens renovated building to house College of Agricultural Sciences
Students studying in Colorado State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences officially have a new home after the Nutrien Agricultural Sciences Building opened on Tuesday.
The building, formerly the Shepardson building, underwent a $43.5 million, 40,000-square-foot expansion — doubling the size of the space — beginning in October 2019 and funded by the university and the state. In addition, Nutrien, the world’s largest provider of crop nutrients, inputs and services, pledged to contribute $10 million to the college over the next decade to support student success and grow a diverse workforce.
To mark the reopening of the building, university leadership including President Joyce McConnell, CSU System’s Board of Governors Board Chair Kim Jordan and Dean of the agricultural college James Pritchett spoke to a crowd gathered to celebrate the building’s potential impact.
“These investments in agriculture highlight the continued importance of our founding land-grant mission and CSU’s and the College of Agricultural Sciences’ commitment to advancing innovative, cutting-edge teaching, research, outreach, and all of that will happen in this new building … for generations to come,” McConnell said.
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The expanded building will allow for more “impactful execution of CSU’s commitment to agriculture in the state,” according to a university news release. It was designed with student success in mind, according to Pritchett.
The building features flexible classroom spaces, including a 360-degree round classroom to improve student engagement and a number of meeting rooms, versatile spaces and laboratories to provide spaces for collaboration.
On a tour of the building, Pritchett told guests that the 360-degree classroom — named the Bernard Rollin Knowledge Well after a late CSU professor — was designed to be inviting to all students and especially support those who have struggled academically in the past by encouraging engagement.
The opening of the building comes at a “critical moment” in the world of agriculture, according to Brent Smith, Nutrien’s vice president of marketing and innovation, who spoke to the challenges the field is facing due to supply chain issues, increased food insecurity and geopolitical issues.
“We need places where the next generation of agricultural advocates can grow and thrive personally and professionally. We need a workforce with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences, and this building ... is a place that we can do that, and we can also have the important conversations and build positive momentum around sustainable agriculture and innovation and diversity and inclusion and equity and other conversations,” Smith said.
Molly Bohannon covers education for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @molboha or contact her at mbohannon@coloradoan.com. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: CSU hosts grand opening of new Nutrien Agricultural Sciences Building
