A new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) complex was announced in an email from Provost Richard Plumb to the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering and College of Health faculty and was announced to all students, faculty and staff in an email from President Julie Sullivan.

The complex, according to Plumb, will be on South Campus and was announced after an anonymous donation was made as the lead gift for the project. In the future, the donor will be announced and the building will bear the name of the donor.

“That (donation) gave us the push that we needed, so now we can go out to the rest of our potential donors and say that we are not starting from scratch,” Plumb said.

The total project is expected to cost $100 million. The university has to raise $75 million of the total cost, and the other $25 million will come from the university taking out a bond.

The project timeline involves raising money, obtaining a project bid from architects and builders, getting a final design and then the physical building of the complex.

“It’d be a minimum of three years before we get inside (the building),” Plumb said.

The goal of the project is to bring interdisciplinary action to St. Thomas. Though current students will likely not see the final product of the building, Plumb wants faculty and staff to be excited about the project.

“The days of a single discipline, working by themselves, is gone,” Plumb said. “The deans are really working on a more collaborative model of how we work together.”

“We’ll also be renovating some of the existing buildings on South Campus. Loras Hall will get renovated along with the current science and engineering buildings,” Plumb said.

Abby Sliva can be reached at sliv7912@stthomas.edu.