NEWS EDITOR – ASHTON JEFFERS
ORIGINALLY PRINTED ON NOV 10, 2022
Students and faculty on campus may have noticed the construction in progress around campus near the Subway and behind the Blume Library. This is part of a lengthy development plan for a series of changes put in place to grow St. Mary’s University’s programs and resources. One of the major highlights of this construction and development is the new Innovation Center. The Innovation Center is stated to be a 30,000-square-foot building that the St. Mary’s University School of Science, Engineering and Technology will use to foster new ideas and creative methods of learning with the offer of new laboratory and collaboration spaces for students and faculty. There are also plans to create new programs that cover areas such as data science and machine learning, advanced manufacturing, instrumentation, additive manufacturing and reverse engineering, logistics and supply chain management, human/ computer interaction, and engineering design. In honor of this project being underway, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at Pecan Grove on Oct. 21, 2022.
The groundbreaking ceremony had visitors from the St. Mary’s community come out to mingle and enjoy a time when the university could come together to celebrate the excitement for this progress on campus. Prior to having invited speakers come up to share their thoughts and involvement with the project, eventgoers could enjoy music accompaniments performed by the St. Mary’s University
Jazz Orchestra while chatting with their peers, professors, staff, and donors who contributed to the development of the new Innovation Center. Eventgoers had a chance to explore and observe some of the work that the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology had been doing in their classrooms over the semester. The students and faculty created a drone obstacle course under the pavilion at Pecan Grove. They invited people to pilot their own battery-powered drones with tablets that served as controllers to navigate the drones through hoops and rings in the obstacle course. Engineering students were present at the obstacle course to address any issues that arose with the drones and to ensure the proper use of the drones throughout the event. Some students helping with the obstacle course guided individuals with piloting the drones by comparing the simple and easy tablet controls to that of the popular game Minecraft. Father Oscar Vasquez offered the invocation preceding the announcement of the name of the Innovation Center. Thomas M. Mengler, J.D., President of St. Mary’s University, gave the go-ahead to reveal the name and conceptual design for the Center.
They dropped the covering of the concept display to reveal that the Innovation Center’s name will be after Leland T. Blank (B.S. ’67), Ph.D., P.E., and Sallie V. Sheppard, Ph.D. Sheppard shared with the audience that this building will respond to the needs of industrial development in areas of science, engineering and technology here in San Antonio. The Blank Sheppard Innovation Center will strive to embody the S.E.T. (Science, Engineering and Technology) vision. As advocates for education at St. Mary’s and further development of programs and research opportunities, Blank and Sheppard shared that they would be proud to have their names on a building such as the Innovation Center.
President Mengler also stated that while there were intentions to break ground at the actual site of the Blank Sheppard
Pecan Grove | Photo by Ashton Jeffers
Innovation Center, the construction underway prevented those asked to participate from breaking ground there. Instead, they asked donors and participants to break ground at Pecan Grove with shovels in school colors of blue and gold placed in beds of dirt. On a good note, these participants were allowed to keep the ceremonial shovels as a memento to remember this important moment in St. Mary’s growth and development.