A parade of approximately 200 people, including members of the University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees, former President Tom Courtway, faculty, staff, cheerleaders and well wishers, marched with the UCA Bear Marching Band down Bruce Street for the grand opening of the Conway Corporation Center for Sciences. The event was held during Homecoming 2016.
The Conway Corporation Center for Sciences is an extension to the Lewis Science Center, and the project design includes a 50,000-square-foot-addition that provides state-of-the-art laboratories and scientific facilities for students and a 100-seat digital planetarium. Students began using the facility in January 2017.
Construction of the Conway Corporation Center for Sciences was made possible, in part, by a $3 million gift from Conway Corporation pledged in 2014. The building also includes a lobby display that shows the significance between Conway Corporation and higher education in Conway.
Dr. Sue Griffin made a gift of $300,000 in memory of her husband, Dr. Ed Griffin, a longtime UCA faculty member, chair of the biology department and astronomy enthusiast. The gift was used to fund the planetarium, which is part of the outreach component of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. It supports astronomy teaching on campus, as well as offers planetarium shows to school groups and the general public.