New Astronomy Facilities for Dickinson College

The Department of Physics and Astronomy of Dickinson College had for nearly 120 years occupied the Tome Scientific Building, one of the oldest laboratory science buildings in continuous use in the nation. In 1997 planning began in earnest for the construction of a new facility that would also house the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. This presented the college with the opportunity to develop innovative teaching spaces to support Dickinson's tradition of activity-based learning exemplified by our nationally recognized Workshop Physics calculus-based introductory physics course. Planning for the facility involved the active participation of a committee of faculty, students and administrators. Dedicated in 2000, Dickinson's new science building is equipped with important new facilities for astronomy education: an on-campus observatory, an observing deck, a planetarium, and a 'workshop style' laboratory/classroom. The Michael L. Britton Observatory is equipped with a 24-inch DFM Engineering Ritchey-Chretien telescope, while the Charles M. Kanev Planetarium features a Spitz System 1024 Projector and AP4 control system in a 65-person capacity auditorium. The astronomy laboratory/classroom has 16 computer stations equipped with interfaces and sensors to support microcomputer based laboratories. The room is also equipped to support a number of innovative kinesthetic physics demonstrations developed at Dickinson. The design of Dickinson's new building may be of interest to others planning new astronomy teaching spaces.