Many students have peered through the glass exterior of the Life Sciences Building, but the official opening of the building means students can now look from the inside out.

"I like it a lot," Maddie Runk (sophomore-economics) said. "I was really excited when I got a class in [the building]. It seems up-to-date."

The new building, located behind the Thomas Building, opened 11 new classrooms, a 203-seat auditorium and a colorful lounge at the beginning of the semester.

Sara Heindorf (graduate-French) taught classes in the Chambers Building last semester but now has a class in the Life Sciences Building.

She said the new building is her favorite place to teach so far.

"These classrooms are so big, and you can put desks in a circle, which is good for foreign language classes," Heindorf said.

Students have access to a lounge decorated with over-stuffed chairs and modern-styled tables, as well as counters with laptop plug-ins.

"I haven't been around the whole [building], but it looks really nice," Robert Brown (sophomore-agriculture and bioengineering) said.

"It looks a lot better than the other buildings," he added.

The 203-seat Berg Auditorium has wheelchair-accessible seating in the front, middle and back of the room.

The auditorium is also loaded with movable chairs, electrical plugs on desks, video-conferencing capabilities, a sound system, two-sided projection capabilities and a 32-by-12-foot projection screen.

"If any computer or monitor is tampered with improperly, it alerts police services," Robert Myrick, facility coordinator said.

"There is a different security system on the doors that also alerts police services," he added.

He said four of the 12 new classrooms are set up like computer labs to allow students to do projects and presentations on the computers in class.

"Today's generation of students are technology-savvy, so if we had inferior technology, it wouldn't be fair," Myrick said.

The department of life sciences used to operate from the fifth floor of Wartik Lab and other various places on campus, but moved to the Life Sciences Building when it opened for staff and research faculty last fall.

The building still has rooms that can be filled.

"We do have research space in the basement that we haven't occupied yet," Berkey said.

Myrick said the building is available for all disciplines and multiple professors around campus.

"So much is happening that requires crossing disciplines," he said.

"Any of the different colleges have access to these [classrooms]," Myrick added.

Project manager Lisa Berkey said she is satisfied with the final outcome of the new Life Sciences Building after years of hard work.

"After working on this project for years, it is rewarding to see people using it as we envisioned," she said.