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Dedication ceremonies for Oechsle Hall, new home of Lafayette’s programs in psychology and neuroscience, were held Oct. 18 on Alumni Memorial Plaza, adjacent to the building. Created through a major transformation of Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, the 45,000-square-foot facility opened with the beginning of classes in August.
The building includes teaching laboratories, classrooms, faculty research laboratories, student research laboratories, and faculty offices. It is named for Walter ’57 and Christa Huber Oechsle in recognition of their commitment of $10 million to the Lafayette Leadership Campaign.
Remarks at the dedication were offered by Alan R. Griffith ’64, chair of the Board of Trustees; Arthur J. Rothkopf ’55, president; Walter Oechsle ’57; Alan W. Childs, professor and head of psychology; Wendy L. Hill, William C. ’67 and Pamela H. Rappolt Professor of Neuroscience and chair, neuroscience program; and senior Suzanne D. Montgomery, a psychology major.
The plaque for the building was unveiled. It reads, “Oechsle Hall: Named in grateful tribute to Walter ’57 and Christa Oechsle whose inspiring generosity will have a profound and enduring impact on science education at Lafayette, in particular the study of psychology and neuroscience. Dedicated October 18, 2002.”
Walter Oechsle, a native of Germany, graduated in 1957 with honors in history. He studied philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and earned an M.B.A. in finance from New York University. Highlights of his career include the founding of Oechsle International Advisors in 1986, of which he is now the retired managing general partner. A leading authority on international money management, he wrote the “Overseas Commentary” column for Forbes magazine for many years. He has been a Lafayette trustee since 1995 and currently serves on the board’s investments and educational policy committees. He received the George Washington Kidd, Class of 1836, Award, to an alumnus for special distinction in his career.
Christa Oechsle, who is also from Germany, is a graduate of Hofstra University. She taught foreign languages in U.S. public schools for a number of years.
In 1996 the Oechsles endowed a scholarship to aid Lafayette students from Eastern Europe. They are members of Societe d’Honneur, James Madison Porter Society, and sustaining members of the Marquis Society. They reside in Sudbury, Mass., and Delray Beach, Fla.
“The excitement of Oechsle Hall is electric,” says Alan W. Childs, professor and head of psychology. “Imagine a separate, dedicated laboratory for every lab-based class, a research space for every faculty member, and dedicated research and workspace for students conducting projects for advanced research or honors.” Also included are a 150-seat lecture hall with full audiovisual equipment, a computer laboratory, a 50-seat ‘smart’ classroom, seminar rooms, and gathering areas in each corner of the building.
Three remote observation laboratories allow for the unobtrusive study of birds, fish, and people. Awards of $150,000 from Arthur Vining Davis Foundation and $85,000 from Alden Trust funded equipment for the instructional laboratories.
While the location of faculty offices in academic buildings is typically strategic, it’s particularly significant that in Oechsle Hall, they are clustered together on the fourth level, rather than interspersed among the labs on the levels below.
That’s exactly how the faculty wanted it, says Ann V. McGillicuddy-DeLisi, Metzgar Professor of Psychology, and Wendy L. Hill, Rappolt Professor in Neuroscience. They assert that faculty cohesiveness is a key strength of the programs.
“The faculty want connection and camaraderie,” says Hill, who was named Pennsylvania’s Professor of the Year in 1999 by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. “We would rather have offices next to our colleagues than next to our research labs.”
The configuration also speaks to the faculty’s focus on students, adds McGillicuddy-DeLisi, who is co-editor of Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. There is one teaching lab — for the introductory psychology course — right in the center, surrounded by the offices.
“The position of the intro lab among the offices is symbolic,” she says. “The faculty have shared goals, and they mostly revolve around students, around teaching, around the question, ‘What do we want the students to take away from the program?’ We coalesce around that.”
Both psychology and neuroscience are attracting highly capable students in high numbers. Psychology, including the A.B. and B.S. programs, ranks among the six most popular majors at Lafayette. Psychology is a very popular minor, also.
The combination of behavioral neuroscience and neuroscience is among the top 10 majors. This is the final year of a transformation of the behavioral neuroscience major into a neuroscience major. For members of the last four graduating classes, the major was behavioral neuroscience. This year’s seniors (class of 2003) have both options open to them. Beginning with the class of 2004, all majors will be in neuroscience.
Neuroscience is “a true joint major between psychology and biology,” Hill says. In addition to Hill and McGillicuddy-DeLisi, neuroscience faculty include Matthew S. McGlone, associate professor of psychology, Gabrielle B. Britton, assistant professor of psychology; Wayne S. Leibel, associate professor and head of biology; Bruce A. Young, associate professor of biology, and Elaine R. Reynolds, assistant professor of biology.
“Lafayette is poised to have one of the pre-eminent neuroscience programs at the undergraduate level in the country,” says Julio J. Ramirez, R. Stuart Dickson Professor of Psychology at Davidson College, who conducted a review of Lafayette’s program as founding president of Project Kaleidoscope, a National Science Foundation-funded alliance to strengthen undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology.
The faculty’s dedication to students is reflected in many ways, including their mentoring in independent studies, EXCEL Scholars research collaborations, and year-long senior projects leading to departmental honors. In the past two graduating classes, eight psychology majors and four neuroscience and behavioral neuroscience majors have earned honors.