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Trustees approve new planetarium, observatory at UMaine

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted July 18, 2011, at 8:22 p.m.
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Concept drawing of a new proposed planetarium at the University of Maine in Orono.
Concept drawing of a new proposed planetarium at the University of Maine in Orono.
Concept drawing of a new proposed planetarium at the University of Maine in Orono.
Concept drawing of a new proposed planetarium at the University of Maine in Orono.

BANGOR, Maine — The billions and billions of stars in the cosmos will be clearer and brighter in the new $5.2 million combined planetarium and observatory that the University of Maine System board of trustees approved Monday for the University of Maine campus.

The new structure will be built near Rangeley Road between the Hilltop parking lots and the Littlefield Garden. It is expected to be completed in about three years.

“I think it’s a great thing for UMaine students and the Greater Bangor community,” Jeffrey Hecker, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said after the trustees endorsed the project.

The observatory, with a telescope dating back to 1901, and the Jordan Planetarium, located in Wingate Hall, are obsolete, Hecker told board members Monday. The telescope’s age does not allow for collaboration with institutions that have digital capacity.

“The new telescope will allow students taking online courses to access the telescope remotely, download digital images of stars and save them as part of homework assignments,” Hecker said. “It also would allow us to teach astronomy courses online.”

The Jordan Planetarium, with 35 seats, has nearly 5,000 visitors per year, approximately 66 percent of whom are schoolchildren, Hecker said. The proposed planetarium would seat 50 and the dome, which is now 20 feet across, would be 33 feet across and allow full digital projection.

“That would allow us to get new programs and enhance the experience of families and schoolchildren who are frequent visitors,” Hecker said.

Bus drop-offs at Wingate Hall are a safety concern on busy Munson Road and there is no visitor parking for families and small groups. The new location would allow a visitor parking section and safer bus drop-offs for schoolchildren.

Nearly $2.2 million has been raised through the University of Maine Foundation to pay for the proposed 5,312-square-foot building. The foundation has committed to raising an additional $1 million. Of the remaining funds, $1 million would come from UMaine and another million would need to be raised in a capital campaign over the next three to five years.

Construction of the new building, which would require no additional staff, would increase the university’s annual operating budget by about $180,000.

Once the new observatory-planetarium is completed, Wingate Hall will be renovated to create a “student one-stop center,” according to a summary of the project provided to board members.

The trustees also approved creation of the Dr. Waldo “Mac” Libbey ’44 Professorship in Electrical & Computer Engineering at UMaine. Libbey, who died on Jan. 10, 2009, at the age of 86, left $250,000 to the university to establish the professorship.

Libbey graduated from Bangor High School, held a baccalaureate degree in electrical engineering from UMaine and returned there in 1943 after completing his graduate work out of state, according to his obituary. He retired in June 1990.

During his tenure at UMaine, he was instrumental in starting a full graduate program in electrical engineering in the 1950s. Throughout his 47 years at the university, he was credited with initiating 14 new courses, graduate and undergraduate, in the curriculum.

Libbey’s avocation was music. He was a member of the Bangor Band, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and a founder of the Bangor Savoyards, which performed musicals.

In an unrelated financial matter, Rebecca Wyke, UMS vice chancellor for finance and administration, announced that preliminary figures show a projected surplus systemwide of between $21 million and $24 million at the end of fiscal year 2011, which ended on June 30. That is between 4 percent and 4.5 percent of the unrestricted operating budget, she said.

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  • Anonymous

    This is absolutely silly. UMO is now charging 10k a semester for students to attend, and they continue to build facilities that they cannot afford to maintain! When I took astronomy and used the current observatory, yes it was cold and yes it was a little primative but it was my first experience seeing saturn, and the experience was hard and inconvenient but that’s what made it an experience! Definately one of my favorite classes I took in college. Regardless, UMO better think twice about these things or they will start to find themselves falling behind and seeing schools like USM creep up and take over, other buildings are going to need retrofitting and parking is ridiculous, students don’t get the resources they deserve either (MET’s don’t get any money for their senior projects or anything else for that matter). I’m sorry but we aren’t going to be producing a good economy for our state by just looking at the sky, we need more resources for our science and engineering students, and a greater emphasis on business creation with an interaction with the University. They seem to find creative ways to spend money but they need to start finding creative ways of making money.

  • Anonymous

    Buildings where lead paint and asbestous are falling.  Building where ceiling tiles are letting go, and nearly hitting students in the head.  Steam pipes that are leaking their entire lengths.  Pot holes.  

    Yes !!  The priority needs to be on “New Buildings” !!

  • Anonymous

    Name me a campus where parking is not a problem.  And check out how many innovations have come from UMO research.  It’s not up to the university to make money directly but to provide research and technology for others to develop.  The new facility will foster better education, at the college level, at pre-college, and the public.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t understand how an observatory provides research and technology for others. An observatory allows one to take a look at the universe and discover things about it. It does not help in developing and researching progressive things here on earth. I am an engineer who works in industry and I also took Astronomy (with keplers laws not without) at UMO and I have no idea how anyone can develop anything unique or innovative from this proposed building. Yes maybe the university will get funds from the government but from the outlook that the president has had on funding NASA I don’t think that will continue much longer (NASA also no longer is giving grant support to the engineering department I hear). The point is that there are plenty of buildings and departments that could use money and develop their programs and the university has a giant case of ADD and just throws money around. The rec center is a good example, forcing students to pay $100 a semester unless they track down the right person to exempt them, while there is already a perfectly good pool and track in the fieldhouse. AGAIN, 10K a semester for tuition! I have a brother and sister attending UMO and they have to start commuting because of the tuition increase- they can’t live on campus anymore. My belief was that anyone could go to school if they wanted to, they just had to work hard and sacrifice to achieve it. This idea of erecting new buildings all over campus to attract out of state students is once again putting down local people and allowing people from out of state to enjoy a  luxorious school in vacationland.
    I believe that the University should expand and should keep doing research, but when I hear of departments not supporting students with any money at all and increasing tuition while squandering alumni money on ridiculous projects, I get pretty pturbed. Investing money in something like this when so many other things are lacking is irresponsible I think.

  • Anonymous

    How about a heating system upgrade? Patches of ground in the winter will have green grass growing on them, and a number of buildings you can stand next to the venthilation shafts that are unmonitored just blowing out heat. The university is going to need someone strong willed to lead in order to fix it up and make it more effiicient. I don’t care what they say about the heating system there, it wastes steam like there is no tomorrow.

  • Anonymous

    Waste more money that is not they’re!!

  • Anonymous

    Check out the 3rd floor classrooms of Stevens Hall… north, south and central  (Noticing the peeling paint (that it LEAD)).  Go into Estabrook Hall, a dorm, in the basement… the white dust you notice on the floor on the way to do your laundry is asbestous…. Go into Merrill Hall, right next to the Childcare Center Rooms.  Closing the door to hard will cause ceiling tiles, weighing a few pounds each, to fall to the floor.   Go into Murray Hall when it is raining… the water you see is on the floor is coming from the CRACK in the building.   Facilities is WELL aware of these situations.  

  • Anonymous

    Maine, the center of astronomy research.
    How about realizing the budget constraints this state and nation are in and learn to live within our means?
    Science is an ultimate good, but this particular project is wasteful.

  • Anonymous

    Apparently, wasting money on education is not a foriegn concept to you.

  • Anonymous

    I’m not surprised that there are so many people upset about the unfortunate ways that the University of Maine spends money. 

    However, this article fails to mention that  the vast majority of the money raised for the new planetarium and observatory came from private, public donations.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AMYPBQTFGQI44IAAXMTB5GVOYM David

    You went to Missouri?  That’s the only UMO I’m aware of.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, and every other state university, like a boss.

  • Anonymous

    No matter how well insulated, underground steam pipes will support snow-free ground above.

  • Anonymous

    No matter how well insulated, underground steam pipes will support snow-free ground above.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

  • Anonymous

    Not all education and even not all research is done for propsective monetary payoff.  As for the alumni money, it may have designated.  I too deplore constantly raising tuition but the last I heard, the U Maine campuses are still a comparitive better deal than most (including State Univeristies).  I do agree that there are savings to be acheived, especially in non-acadmic areas like the UMS.

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