HUNTINGTON, Ind. — Construction is expected to begin by June 1 on a $525,000 greenhouse at Huntington University. The building is due to open by the end of the year.

 

The 2,000 square-foot Ware Plant Science Production Facility will be used by the university’s agriculture, biology, chemistry and occupational therapy programs, said Raymond “Raymie” Porter, director of the university’s Haupert Institute for Agricultural Studies.

 

The groundbreaking for the aluminum frame greenhouse was April 20. It will be constructed as an addition to the Dowden Science Building. The facility is necessary because, “in short, we need more space for agriculture as well as biology to grow more plants,” explained Porter, also associate professor of agriculture. “A better controlled environment is needed in order to grow them well.”

 

The university’s current greenhouse is 10-by-50-foot with enough space to grow four corn and four soybean plants, he said. “It’s severely lacking in space for planting, potting and teaching,” Porter noted. “We’ve been making the most of what we had, but now we should be able to grow more.”

 

The new building will have state-of-theart temperature and lighting controls, he said, adding the space will be more than triple what the university currently has.

 

“Students will have the opportunity for hands-on learning,” Porter noted. “There will be room for the Horticulture Club to propagate plants, and also flexible space.”

 

The greenhouse will be named for Dale Ware, who graduated from Huntington in 1936. Last fall, the university announced Douglas and Virginia Ware – his son and daughter-in-law – had donated $250,000 toward the project.

 

“It’s my hope as students walk by (the greenhouse), they will have some sense or some remembrance of who he was,” Douglas Ware said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “He would be extremely proud of what’s going on today. 

 

“He probably wouldn’t care if his name is on it or not, but I do. He died nearly 36 years ago and not a day goes by that I don’t think about him. (The university) was very much a part of his life.”

 

Ware said the contribution was triggered by a conversation with the late Dale Haupert.

 

“He said he reached a point in his life when he wanted to do more,” Ware recalled. “God has placed us where my wife and I can do this for the school.”

 

The institute was named for Dale and Elaine Haupert. Huntington University, a Christian college of liberal arts, has undergraduate and graduate degree programs in more than 70 areas of study. It has a current enrollment of about 1,300 students.

 

The Haupert Institute opened its doors in the fall of 2015 with the goal of offering a faith-based agricultural curriculum. The institute focuses on agribusiness with concentrations in such areas as management, economics and finance, crop production, ministry and missions and communication and public policy.

 

“(This facility) will take the Haupert Institute to the next level,” said Vince Haupert, vice president of advancement. “It’s physical evidence that we’re doing agriculture on this campus. We haven’t had a graduating class yet, but we’re able to turn dirt to build this facility. It’s beyond what I could have asked for or imagined.”