University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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MBfiL . j Scheduled to open in 2003, the foundation of the Life Sciences Institute overlooks Washtenaw Avenue and the morning com- muters. Commissioned to be built alongside the Institute was a commons area holding a dining facility and a Science Instruction Center on top of a 1,100-space parking garage, photo by Ben Hayes With the placement of yellow tape, construction of the Life Sci- ences Institute prevents many stu- dents from taking their normal route over the bridge to the Hill area. In 1999, the Regents com- mitted SI 00 million to the build- ing of the Institute, planned to be a six-story, 230,000-square foot building, photo by Ben Hayes Academics I 89

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VX VX VX Institut nvaae uilding of the new Life Sciences es and bulldozers become us attraction for visitors to see tfthe scenery and buildings campus In a rapidly changing era of science and technology, the University, long a leader in breakthrough research, demon- strated its continued commitment to science by creating the Life Science Initiative. The University invested morethan $500 million in the project, which fell roughly into three segment areas science research, science values, and science educa- tion. Emphasizing the importance of research in the areas of biological sciences, the University began by breaking ground on a series of new buildings, including a $100-million labora- tory Life Science Institute along Washtenaw Avenue and a 500,000 square-foot building on the Medical Campus. The new buildings were planned in order to house thirty new world-class researchers dedicated to the various disciplines of the life sciences. Moreover, the Initiative was the umbrella organization for another project called the Life Sciences, Values, and Society Program. The design of this program was to ask, debate, and answer the ethical issues raised by life science research, spark- ing discussion and action across the entire campus, not just in science-related fields. To implement these actions into the undergraduate expe- rience, University administrators focused on creating new classes in the life sciences. The goal was to prepare students for a society faced with the moral and political issues brought about by new research. There is an intellectual revolution afoot in the life sci- ences one equivalent to the revolutions in chemistry in the 1800s and in physics in the 1900s, said University President Lee C. Bellinger in a press release. Advances in the life sci- ences are raising new questions about what it is to be human, how best to lead a human or humane existence, what it is to be a living organism on this planet, and other crucial ques- tions of human values that will reverberate throughout the social sciences, the humanities, the arts, and medicine. By Caelan Jordan 88 I Life Science Initiative

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ANIMAL CONCERN HOTLINE 763-8028 The University of Michigan is strongly committed to the humane care and use of animals in research. The Animal Concern Hotline (763-8028) provides a mechanism for U-M staff members and the public at large to report any matter of concern about humane aspects of laboratory animal care and use. The University Committee on Use and Care of Animals (UCUCA) will promptly i nvestigate any report submitted and maintain confidentiality, within University guidelines, regarding the source of information it receives. IF YOU SEE ANYTHING THAT TROUBLES YOU. PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CALLI Despite criticism from animal rights ac- tivists, the University maintains that it treats animal subjects in a humane fash- ion. Located in one of the testing facili- ties, a poster outlined the steps faculty and students could take in order to re- port their concerns and complaints about mistreatment, pholoby Tomn Aimmusuni Used as the primary subjects for ULAM testing, mice spent endless hours in cages awaiting their time in the lab. Shelves stacked with cages of mice, rabbits and other specimens lined the halls of the medical facility, photo by Tosin Atmmusunt 90 | Animal Testing