Bristol-Myers Squibb Center for Science Teaching and Learning At Montclair State Officially Opens Oct. 24

The official opening of Montclair State University’s Bristol-Myers Squibb Center for Science Teaching and Learning will be held at the Center’s Blanton Hall location Monday, Oct. 24, at 9:30 a.m.

The ceremony formally acknowledges and celebrates a $500,000 five-year grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb to Montclair State. This public-private partnership funds the Center, which is designed as an incubator for excellence in northern New Jersey and which aims to improve the way teachers prepare their students in mathematics and science education.

Among those participating in the opening ceremonies will be President Susan A. Cole, and Montclair State University trustee John L. McGoldrick, executive vice president and general counsel of Bristol-Myers Squibb. McGoldrick, who has responsibility for BMS’s HIV/AIDS programs in Africa, including its $117 million Secure the Future programs, will speak about the university-corporate partnership.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for 10 a.m., followed by a reception and a tour of the facility. At 10:30 a.m., Sally Schuler, executive director of the National Science Resources Center of Washington, D.C., a nationally recognized leader in the development of inquiry-based K-12 science curricula and professional development programs, will speak on science education today.

The five-room Bristol-Myers Squibb Center for Science Teaching and Learning houses PRISM (Professional Resources in Science and Mathematics), a network of programs designed to improve teacher preparation in mathematics and science. In the recent academic year, PRISM provided professional development in inquiry-based approaches to more than 700 teachers in 48 school districts.

Jacalyn Willis, PRISM founding director, said, "The Bristol-Myers Squibb Center allows us to build on our successes, acquire new resources, add additional programming, and expand into more school districts. The Center has attractive and versatile furnishings, an inviting design, communications equipment, and eye-catching artwork that combine to send the message that science and mathematics are exciting areas of study, valuable connecting paths to a world around us and enjoyable pursuits for a fulfilling life."

A signature program of PRISM that is slated for expansion is "The Rainforest Connection," which ties researchers in a tropical forest habitat in Panama directly to students in New Jersey classrooms. The research-centered videoconferences will include new remote field locations, additional scientists and more topics for the coming school year.