The Richard and Janet Testa Science Center recently received the Silver Hammer Award from the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Richard and Janet Testa Science Center Honored by Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce

December, 2003- Assumption College’s Richard and Janet Testa Science Center was recently recognized by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce as a winner of the Chamber’s annual Silver Hammer Award.

The award, which is divided into three categories: colleges and universities, memorials, and entertainment venues, recognizes “construction and renovation projects that have made an ‘extraordinary visual and aesthetic impact on the physical landscape of the community’ or that have had ‘positive economic impact on the region’”.

The $18 million; 63,000-square-foot campus showpiece, which opened in September 2003, houses the Department of Natural Sciences, which includes chemistry, biology, environmental science and physics. The facility features five multiuse classrooms with state-of-the-art technology, ten teaching laboratories, seven laboratories dedicated for faculty and student research, two conference rooms, a greenhouse, and inviting, spacious lounge areas. Over 5,000 square feet of space is available for meetings, study, and faculty/student interaction.

The Testa Science Center was honored in the colleges and universities category, along with buildings at three other Worcester colleges. Other significant Worcester structures that received the Silver Hammer Award included the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Green Hill Park, the Korean War Memorial, Union Station the Restaurant, and the Sh-Booms Entertainment Complex in the Worcester Center Boulevard Garage.

“We are very proud to receive this prestigious award,” said Francis P.Gurley, executive vice president and treasurer of Assumption College. “This is another example of recognition of the value that we provide to the Worcester community.”