The UGA community is invited to the dedication for the Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences. It will begin at 2 p.m. April 7 and includes a keynote address from former U.S. President George H. W. Bush.
Motorists should note that certain roads will be closed for a few hours during the former president’s visit, according to UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., D.W. Brooks Drive will be closed to traffic from Carlton Street to the entrance to the College of Veterinary Medicine parking lot. Carlton Street will be closed from East Campus Road to Lumpkin Street between 1:30 and 2 p.m.
The closures apply to delivery trucks as well as other vehicles. Bus riders should be aware that the North-South route will run a slightly different route all day, bypassing stops at Driftmier Engineering Center and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Several other bus routes will change from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. A complete listing of detours can be found online (www.transit.uga.edu), according to Campus Transit Manager Ron Hamlin.
The dedication ceremony will be held on the plaza of the College of Veterinary Medicine, located directly across from the Coverdell Center on D.W. Brooks Drive. It’s free and open to the public.
“People are going to be able to get fairly close to watch,” Williamson says. “There will be a few security lines, but that will be it.”
After the former president’s speech and departure, the public will be allowed inside the building.
In the event of inclement weather, the dedication ceremony will be held in Mahler Auditorium at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel.
Employees who park in the veterinary medicine college lot or next to the Coverdell Center will be notified by Parking Services of any parking changes required due to the ceremony. Affected employee parking includes the veterinary medicine college lot from the edge of the building to D.W. Brooks Drive and the Coverdell lot from the tennis court to D.W. Brooks Drive.
Visitors are encouraged to park in the Carlton Street Parking Deck, which is located behind the Coverdell Center. The parking fee is being waived for the dedication ceremony.
The Coverdell Center is named for the late senator who served Georgia in the U.S. Senate from 1993 until July 2000. The $40 million facility totals 135,000 square feet, with sufficient laboratory space to house 25 research teams.
It houses the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute, established in 2001. Also housed in the Coverdell Center are the College of Public Health, the Health Communications Group, the Biomedical Research Imaging Center, the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and the newly organized Developmental Biology Group.