Stetson’s first president gave voice to the University’s guiding principle: A great education begins with a great faculty. “Buildings, libraries, and apparatus are good and give added power,” President John Forbes said, “but the vital contact of students with a vigorous and stimulating mind and heart – this is the sine qua non of a successful education.”

In the sciences today, however, a great teaching faculty and ambitious students require the right instrumentation and buildings. To remain a great university in this century, Stetson must have a new Science Center to add breadth and depth to undergraduate study, faculty research, and community outreach.

When the current home to science, Sage Hall, opened in 1967, disciplinary boundaries were divided almost as rigidly as its three long parallel hallways. From the beginning, the building was a promise of things to come, a solid monument to a strong curriculum designed to train new professionals and to prepare undergraduates for the challenges of the second half of the 20th century. Sited on the central axis of the campus and functional in its design, Sage Hall announced that Stetson was claiming its role in the Space Age.