St. Thomas to break ground on new STEAM facility in May

A new STEAM complex at the University of St. Thomas will help prepare college students for real-world jobs.

"This is a 100 million dollar project that is a first of its kind for this region, and it’s incredible," said Dean of Engineering at the University of St. Thomas Don Weinkauf.

The Schoenecker Center, as it will be known, will be a 130,000 square-foot state-of-the-art STEAM building that sits near the corner of Grand and Summit on campus, and will adjoin O’Shaughnessy Science Hall.

It will have large open classrooms with engineering high bays and science labs just down the hall from musical performance spaces and art galleries.

"This integration is critical, the boundaries between disciplines are gone, there is no engineering and science and art and music, they are all being blurred together," Weinkauf said.

Instead of students studying just their subjects in separate silos, this center will inspire new ways to learn and will foster important skills like communication through shared connections.

An idea crafted by employers, and what they are looking for in a graduate.

"Our employers are not interested in hiring human calculators, they are interested in hiring engineers who can communicate," he added.

Ava Hermann is a senior who will graduate in May with a neuroscience degree.

She won’t be here to use the new STEAM building but certainly appreciates the concept.

"I think including art with science is really important because it gives more creativity to science," she shared.
There is a planned groundbreaking in May 2022 and the Schoenecker Center is set to open in 2024.

The Schoenecker Center is named in honor of Guy and Barbara Schoenecker, whose legacy can be felt across campus from libraries to athletic facilities.

The Schoenecker Foundation continues to provide financial assistance to St. Thomas students and founded the Minneapolis campus.