In response to complaints from parents concerned that their children will be without daycare following the closing of the Child Development Laboratory, the Work/Life Program of the health and human resources department will complete a study to determine the need for additional daycare centers on campus.

The university sanctioned the study after the parents sent a petition to administrators when the university announced in November that the Child Development Laboratory (CDL) would be terminated, Vice President and Provost Rodney Erickson said.

Henderson Building South, where the CDL is located, will be torn down in 2006.

The daycare center is slated to be combined with the Bennett Family Center, located at the intersection of Bigler and McKean roads.

"There's been a lot of misinformation about the child development center," Erickson said during a University Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday night. "We hope to find out whether there is sufficient demand to build another facility on West Campus."

The assessment will consist of online surveys that will provide the Work/Life Program information about both short- and long-term needs of faculty members for childcare on campus.

"We want to get a crystal-ball look at future needs," said Linda Pierce, director of Work/Life programs for the Office of Human Resources.

Pierce said there are predictions that those who are baby boomers will retire around 2020.

Demographics will be assessed to determine how much of a need there will be for faculty filling the open positions.

A committee will use the results to decide whether more daycare centers should be available.

Erickson said if need were established, then the university would contract the childcare service to a private entity.

"We are prepared to meet demands," Erickson said at Tuesday's meeting.

The needs assessment will be completed by the end of February, Pierce said.

The university has a childcare advisory committee that will analyze the results of the study and determine whether more childcare options are needed.

"I've not been very happy with the university," said Lee Ann Banaszak, associate professor of political science and women's studies. "We have two quality daycare centers, and the plan is to eliminate one."

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the number of women employed by the university who are tenured or on a tenure track is one of the lowest in the country, at 27.5 percent.

Banaszak said reasons for Penn State being among the institutions with lower numbers of women faculty may stem from a lack of childcare options.

She said that if the environment were more family-friendly, then it may allow more women to combine work and family responsibilities.

The closing of the CDL concerned parents because there is already a long waiting list for daycare. Banaszak, also a member the childcare advisory committee, said the current waiting list is three years.

Bennett Family Center Director Wendy Whitesel said she thinks it will be interesting to see the results of the studies.

"We're glad they are asking for one to be done because it's been awhile and it would be nice to know," Whitesell said.