St. Thomas announced the official name and groundbreaking date for its STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) complex in a Newsroom email to the St. Thomas community on Thursday, November 4, nearly two years after it introduced the project.

Construction for the complex, which will be named the Schoenecker Center after the late Guy and Barbara Schoenecker, will begin May 2022 on St. Thomas’ South Campus in St. Paul and is predicted to finish for a spring 2024 debut, the email said.

The over 130,000-square-foot, five-level building will adjoin O’Shaughnessy Science Hall to house arts, engineering and science departments for a “collaborative, interdisciplinary education.” Readers can find a virtual tour here.

“The Schoenecker Center is truly new and innovative,” St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan said. “It is where higher education is going— where it needs to go— and we are so excited to be on the leading edge.”

The center will also reach beyond St. Thomas students, faculty and staff to provide spaces for local K-12 schools and organizations, although specific schools and groups were not named in the announcement.

The Schoeneckers Foundation, which founded the university’s Minneapolis campus and funded several St. Paul campus projects, continues to provide financial assistance to St. Thomas students.

Mia Laube can be reached at mia.laube@stthomas.edu.
Mae Macfarlane can be reached at mae.macfarlane@stthomas.edu.