By Tom Jackson
tjackson@uga.edu
U.S. Senators Zell Miller, D-Ga., and Phil Gramm, R-Texas, came to UGA Jan. 12 to announce plans to memorialize the late Sen. Paul Coverdell with a $40 million science center at the university that will help scientists from different fields collaborate on improving the food supply, cleaning up the environment and finding cures for disease.
The Paul D. Coverdell Building for Biomedical and Health Sciences culminates a two-year effort by the university to encourage cooperative research programs among the 300 faculty members working in biomedical, agricultural, ecological and environmental sciences. The building will make possible the kind of day-to-day interactions that speed up scientific discoveries.
The state-of-the-art center will be a hub for science education and research—two of Sen. Coverdell’s top priorities. Coverdell was a strong supporter of the university and its research efforts, including the annual agricultural symposium that he helped launch two years ago.
“This is a fitting way to memorialize our friend Paul Coverdell,” Miller said in making the announcement. “It is my hope that the scientists who gather in this center under Paul’s name will make great discoveries to improve the quality of life in Georgia and around the world.”
“Paul’s slogan wasn’t lofty rhetoric, it was ‘Coverdell works,’ ” said Gramm. “How appropriate, then, that we honor him with a building that is not a static monument, but a place that works for the people of Georgia and our great country.”
The federal government, the state of Georgia and the university are joining together to finance the center. Miller and Gramm are asking Congress to allocate $10 million for the project. Gov. Roy Barnes, an early supporter of the project, has agreed to seek a $10 million appropriation from the Georgia legislature. The university will raise the remaining $20 million.
Sen. Coverdell’s widow, Nancy, met with Miller and Gramm before the announcement for a briefing and site tour.
“I want to thank Phil Gramm, Zell Miller and others in the Senate and the University of Georgia who through their kindness and respect have thought to recognize my husband’s work in this way,” she said. “Education was Paul’s highest priority as a member of the Senate, and I know that he would be honored.”
University officials hope to break ground on the 200,000-square-foot center in the coming year, pending receipt of the funding. It will be located on D.W. Brooks Drive at Carlton Street, across from the College of Veterinary Medicine.
“Sen. Coverdell’s tremendous support advanced the University of Georgia toward its goal of becoming one of the nation’s premier research institutions,” says UGA President Michael F. Adams. “It is fitting that one of our primary initiatives—research in the biomedical, agricultural and life sciences—will be housed in this magnificent new facility bearing his name. All of us owe a debt of gratitude to Sen. Miller, Sen. Gramm and Gov. Barnes—all of whom are UGA alumni—for helping make this tribute to the late senator a reality.”
Sen. Coverdell, who earned a reputation as a soft-spoken workhorse during three decades as a Georgia lawmaker, state Republican Party leader, Peace Corps director and U.S. senator, died unexpectedly of a stroke on July 18, 2000. He was 61.
Gov. Barnes appointed Miller to fill Coverdell’s seat last July, and Miller won a special election on Nov. 7, 2000, to serve the remaining four years of Coverdell’s term. |
|
