Media Advisory

The Johns Hopkins University's Montgomery County Campus will dedicate its second building on May 19, adding 49,000 square feet of classroom and research space. The Academic and Research Building will help accommodate increasing student enrollment at the campus, which has burgeoned from 800 students when it opened in 1988 to 8,000 students this year.

Media are invited to attend the dedication, which begins at 9:30 a.m. and will include a tour of the building and presentations by a number of officials. An RSVP to Bonita Bennett at (301)294-7004 would be appreciated; Bennett can also supply directions.

Speakers will include Johns Hopkins President William R. Brody, who will speak on the growth of the Montgomery County campus as a high- tech life sciences center; Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who will recognize the start of construction of a new branch of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute in the building; Maryland state Sen. Ida Ruben and Delegate Nancy Kopp, who sponsored a bill that supported the new facility; and Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who will describe the Montgomery County campus' role in the local community.

"This facility exemplifies the benefits that come from government, academia and business working together," Duncan says. "Johns Hopkins' impact on the county, both educationally and economically, is of tremendous importance and we welcome the university's continued growth and success within the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center."

Included in the new building are four computer labs; 22 "smart" classrooms configured for video conferencing, multimedia presentations, and high-speed transmission of large databases; a coffee house; a bookstore; and student meeting spaces.

"The Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus is right in the middle of this country's fastest-growing biotechnology community," said Richard C. Mike Lewin, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. "By providing the latest in high-tech education, research, and worker training, this new state-of-the-art facility will be an extremely valuable resource for regional technology initiatives."

"The Academic and Research Building will provide three stories of state-of-the-art research and education facilities," says Elaine Amir, director of the campus. "It shows our commitment to providing a multi-purpose campus that all the divisions of Hopkins can use."

The campus currently offers 40 undergraduate and graduate degree programs from the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Professional Studies in Business and Education, and Public Health. Representatives from these programs will be available at the open house.

The high-tech new building will help the campus strengthen its role as a resource for biotechnology and information technology industries in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The campus also features an MBA program and numerous programs for school administrators, teachers, and counselors.

The building's third floor will house a branch of the Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute. The institute is a partnership between West Virginia University, where it is headquartered, and Johns Hopkins.

The institute is dedicated to developing new and better ways to diagnose and treat conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. It will bring approximately 10 to 12 new researchers to the Montgomery campus. The researchers may teach some part-time classes. In addition, the institute will bring opportunities for students to work in research laboratories.

The Academic and Research Building is part of a master plan that envisions five buildings for the campus; planning for building three is already under way.

The dedication and tour are open to reporters. For more information, call Michael Purdy at (410) 516-7906 or Elaine Amir at (301) 294-7004.