McClure named Life Sciences Center associate director

[Note: this story has been modified since its original posting.]

The associate chairman of MU’s biochemistry department will become associate director of the Life Sciences Center. Bruce McClure will succeed Michael Chippendale, who retires Aug. 31.

Since 1992, McClure has been an associate professor of biochemistry at MU. He has coordinated the undergraduate biochemistry program and co-organized weekly one-hour science seminars aimed at the public, according to a release from the MU News Bureau.

McClure earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His annual salary will be $90,000, said MU spokesman Christian Basi.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $7.5 million to be used toward construction of a wing on the Life Sciences Center, according to a release Friday from Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. The allocation needs approval from the Senate and House of Representatives.

The $33 million expansion, which will be paid for with federal funds, is being constructed by MU in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It will contain a National Plant Genetics and Security Center for the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

The Agricultural Research Service has needed a better building for some time, said Larry Darrah, former research leader for ARS’ plant genetics research unit who is assisting with the new building. The majority of ARS researchers are now in Curtis Hall.

“Our current facilities are not as good as possible, and not even average,” Darrah said.

He said the addition will have four stories above and either one or two floors below ground, for a total of about 72,500 square feet.

Construction will begin once all of the $33 million has been received. At the rate at which funding for the building is going, Darrah said, he anticipates construction to begin in the spring of 2009.