By Monty Siekerman
The Ada Icon asked some pertinent questions about the proposed College of Engineering Building at ONU. Here are the questions we asked and the responses from their communications office:

• Where will the new Engineering Building be located on campus?
North of Heterick Library and east of the Pharmacy Building, which is an area mostly used for parking at the present time.

• When is construction expected to begin? Completion date?
Several things will affect the construction schedule, including fundraising, financing, and contractor schedules. We expect to break ground in the next 9-18 months, with the earliest possible opening in fall of 2018.

• How many students are enrolled in the College of Engineering this fall?
Just shy of 500 students are currently enrolled. Biggs Engineering Building was built in 1971 for targeted enrollment of 250 students.

The university announced earlier recently that a $15 million Engineering Building will be built, which is twice the size of the current structure.

Recently,  U.S. News & World Report recently ranked the local College of Engineering 31st nationally among programs that offer the bachelor’s or master’s as the highest degree.