In an effort to modernize the Allied Health & Science labs and clinics, Manor College has renovated several of its spaces over the last five years including the Biology Lab, Microscopy Lab, and the Dental Health Center. Manor’s Chemistry Lab is host to over 300 students receiving Chemistry and Physics instruction each year. However, the Lab contained outdated equipment, mismatched tools, and cluttered storage space. It did not take a scientist to realize that the Chemistry Lab needed to be renovated. However, it helped to have a scientist lead the project as Project Coordinator and graduate of Manor’s science program, Sally Mydlowec (Executive Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs) proved.
Mydlowec approached the project like she would approach a task in the lab. Like any good science experiment, the project began with a hypothesis that Manor set out to prove correct. 
Hypothesis: Combining faculty input and professional expertise will result in a lab that can most efficiently meet the needs of faculty and students.
Methods: The project began in December 2008 with a faculty needs assessment in which Mydlowec asked the faculty “what would [they] like in an upgraded facility?” Simultaneously, President Mary Cecilia Jurasinski, OSBM visited the labs at Cabrini College and Chestnut Hill College to gather additional renovation ideas.
Fund raising was essential in order to implement a project of this scale. “Sister [Mary Cecilia Jurasinski] and I visited different donors and asked for donations, took pledges, and sent out proposals to foundations in the area,” said Marialice Stanzeski, director of Development & Alumni Relations. They also appealed to alumni who had been taught by the college’s original chemistry teacher, Sister Bodhana, to make donations in her honor. “We were very fortunate to have raised the amount of money we have raised,” said Stanzeski.
With the leadership of Mydlowec, the advice of board member and contractor George Rendell, and the design expertise of VWR International, the renovation plans were put into motion. The project was on a strict timeline to occur during the summer when the Academic Building would have less student traffic. Before construction could begin in May, 2010, the original lab needed to be gutted. Professors Julie Senecoff, James Purcell, and Virginia Saunders and Maintenance Supervisor Peter Dolinay led the breakdown of the lab and donated the old furniture and equipment to Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School in Philadelphia. Summer chemistry and physics classes were held across the street at Saint Basils Academy while the lab underwent construction.
Materials: The renovation called for all new furniture and equipment. VWR supplied new student work benches and cabinetwork to increase storage efficiency. New equipment consisted of compressors, digital scales, sinks with eye wash stations, faucets, gas and vacuum controls, and portable power supply units for Physics experiments. A separate sink and lab space was created to be accessible by students in wheelchairs. A new fume hood was installed in the front of the lab with chemical storage underneath. Additionally, a cooling system was installed on the roof of the Academic Building to improve ventilation throughout the Chemistry and Biology Labs.
Mydlowec learned from the needs assessment meeting that the faculty’s greatest need was for a prep space to set up for their labs. A small crowded office adjacent to the lab was converted into the prep room complete with benches, storage cabinets, and a refrigerator. A SMART Board was installed so that the faculty could show demonstrations of experiments too dangerous to do in the lab. “The faculty got everything they wanted,” said Mydlowec.
Construction was completed in September, 2010 and a ribbon cutting ceremony was held September 27. Afterwards, the professors moved their materials into the brand new state of the art lab. “We are getting used to being in their now,” said Chemistry Coordinator Dr. Julie Senecoff. Amazed by the plentiful storage space, Senecoff laughingly said, “We are still trying to best organize it.”
Data: At 1,149 square feet, the new Chemistry Lab is smaller than the original lab but is several times more efficient. While the original lab could hold only sixteen students, the new lab can hold as many as twenty-four students. The amount of chemicals has been condensed and stored more efficiently and safely in stainless steel racks.
Results: Although I am no scientist, I feel it is safe to say that Mydlowec’s Chemistry Lab renovation hypothesis has been proven correct. But let’s hear from the scientists. Dr. Senecoff says the new lab “definitely functions better than the old lab did in many ways. It is a nicer environment, cleaner and more organized.” Additionally, Senecoff says that the new lab is a “much safer environment because we have things stored properly and put away.”
The benefits of the new lab for the students are endless. “Everything in that lab is handicap accessible,” says Mydlowec, “every student can get in and use it.” The new fume hood makes it possible to run small organic chemistry classes and the storage space allows experiments to carry over between classes thus “improving our ability to teach organic chemistry,” says Senecoff. Faculty and students “can now do more sophisticated experiments because they have space to set up.”
Many of the programs in Manor College’s Allied Health and Science division are widely recognized by employers, and universities and colleges as some of the strongest in the region.
The modernization of the Chemistry Lab reinforces Manor’s high quality image and is another ingredient that helps to make Manor College graduates the tops in their fields.