By Matthew Monks
The largest appropriation in the recently passed $101.3 billion budget goes to Queens College in Flushing, which is earmarked to get $30 million for an addition to Remsen Hall, the chemistry building, said Maria Terrone, communications director for the college. The addition will be an L-shaped, three-floor, energy efficient laboratory science facility with an interior courtyard, Matteo said. It will house an organic-analytical chemistry teaching lab, a chemistry teaching lab, chemistry and bio chemistry research labs and a lounge and study area. While no start date has been set yet, she said it should be completed by the fall of 2008. The college has 12,346 undergraduates students, 62 percent of whom attend full time. LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City should get $20 million for three renovation projects, said state Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan (D-Ridgewood). LaGuardia President Gail Mellow said she did not want to comment on the renovations until the governor signs off on the budget, but Nolan's office said that $2.6 million would go to LaGuardia's Center 3; $8.5 million to the Department of Humanities; and $10.5 million for the Department of Computer Information Systems. Nolan said the school, which has 12,000 students and offers associates degrees in everything from liberal arts and sciences to business administration, is desperate for space and lacks investment in its infrastructure. “These state funds will go a long way in addressing some of these problems,” she said. Finally, state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) secured $3 million for an expanded Holocaust Resource Center at Queensborough Community College in Bayside. The center works with schools throughout the state to develop curriculums that study the Holocaust and other human rights catastrophes, such as the genocides in Armenia, Cambodia and the Sudan, Padavan. “Studying the Holocaust and other acts of genocide around the world throughout history is vital to understanding and preventing these types of brutalities in the future,” Padavan said. The state funds will make the upgraded center the campus' centerpiece, allowing for expanded classes, increased library and exhibit space, and more space for lectures, he said. Reach reporter Matthew Monks by email at news@timesledger.com or at 718-229-0300 ext. 156.
