Geoscience Reports 30:6-7 (Winter 2000).

GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEWS

First Seminar Held in Ortner Building

    During this past July, the 26th Faith and Learning International Seminar, co-sponsored by the Institute for Christian Teaching (from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Education Department) and the GRI, was conducted in the new Ortner Building (GRI headquarters; more details later in this news section). The multilingual, multinational participants in the 12-day seminar included college and university educators from the world divisions, e.g., Africa, West Indies, South America, and Southeast Asia. Guest speakers and participants were able to discuss and exchange ideas freely, and new friendships were forged. The papers presented will be published in volume 26A of Christ in the Classroom.

Participants in the 26th Faith and Learning International Seminar. (Photo courtesy of Richard W. Weismeyer) — color version (35K), large color version (451K)

New GRI Building

    The Geoscience Research Institute is thrilled to announce the opening of its new headquarters, located at 11060 Campus Street on the campus of Loma Linda University. The two-story, 10,500 ft² facility is spacious enough to accommodate the GRI staff offices, the entire GRI library holdings, a seminar room, and laboratories.
    The staff offices were moved on the morning of 29 May 2000. Over the summer, the laboratory equipment, fossils, and library were moved from various localities on the LLU campus into the new building, finally enabling GRI to consolidate all its holdings under one roof.. Along with the staff offices, there are 4 laboratories on the main floor: a chemistry/biology wet lab, a geology "dirty" lab, a rock-sample room, and a paleontology lab. The second floor of the building is primarily occupied by the GRI library, where shelves of books and journals are ringed by fossil-display cabinets lining the walls.
    The GRI staff is grateful to Loma Linda University for providing the land on which to build the dream building, to the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for its assistance in funding the project, and to the generous donation by Mr. Alvin Ortner, a businessman, philanthropist, and lifelong member of the Clinton Seventh-day Adventist Church in Missouri. The GRI regrets that Mr. Ortner did not live to see the completed building, which is named in his honor. His photograph and a brief biographical sketch occupy a prominent place in the lobby.    

A pre-landscape view of the Ortner Building, new home of the Geoscience Research Institute. (Photo courtesy of Elaine Kennedy) — color version (32 K), large color version (307 K)

Dedication/Open House

    A dedication ceremony, immediately followed by an Open House, took place on Monday afternoon, 23 October 2000.
    Elder Lowell Cooper (GRI Board Chairman) welcomed the 130+ individuals who gathered on the front lawn of the new building. Elder Neal Wilson (past GC president and long-time GRI Board member) described the role of GRI in the work of the worldwide church. After Dr. Jim Gibson (GRI Director) expressed his appreciation to all who had supported the building project, Elder Matthew Bediako (GC Secretary) had the dedicatory prayer.
    After the ribbon-cutting ceremony and remarks by Pat Watts, the public was invited to tour the building.

Participants in the ribbon-cutting ceremony from the Ortner family and from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (l-r): Mrs. Laurie Foxworthy (daughter of Pat and Ralph Watts), Mrs. Pat Watts (daughter of Alvin Ortner), Elder Ralph S. Watts, Jr. (President of ADRA), and Elder Robert Rawson (GC Treasurer). (Photo courtesy of Richard W. Weismeyer) — color version (50 K), large color version (405 K)