After a decade of planning and three years of construction, the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation has opened to universal excitement.  However, some people around campus are wondering if the college overhyped the new building.

The center is undeniably impressive and the university is not afraid to flaunt this newly acquired asset.  In a video promoting the building, alumni were allowed to walk through the building and a video camera recorded their reactions.  Of course, none of the people interviewed had anything bad to say about the building. In fact, they all seemed to think it was “impressive” and “amazing.” The building itself is definitely impressive and amazing from a cosmetic standpoint and has a lot of new technology that offer great opportunities for students.

Take a video tour of the new Shineman Center.

One of the things that the video did not mention is the fact that the building can often be confusing to navigate.

The building is divided into two different wings that connect around a central atrium that has a café and seating for students.  The wings, labeled Observation and Innovation respectively, seem to meld together into a mess of room numbers that don’t quite make sense.  Trying to find your way to room 122 can involve passing rooms 195 and 101 depending on where you enter the building.

Another confusing aspect of the building is the upper and lower floor systems.

When I walk down a flight of stairs, I expect to be on a lower floor; in Shineman, however, this isn’t always the case.  Walking down staircases in the center of the building seems to take you to a lower level of the same floor, while stairs on the outside take you to the actual floor below.  My advice is to take plenty of extra time to get to class, because there is a good chance you will get lost.

One of the things that will take some getting used to for the faculty is the lack of storage space available to them. Some professors actually like this because a lot of the storage space in Snygg was not being used efficiently due to the surplus of it. Professors so far seem pleased with the building overall, noting that it is impossible to know yet what the building is capable of. Professors have also praised the way the buildings design has encouraged collaboration among professors in different departments.
Chris Chambers
Contributing Writer
opinion@oswegonian.com