Six months after serious concerns that it might one day close, the Primate Center has begun upgrading its facilities and research, and has added long sought-after bus service to and from West Campus.
After several reports suggested last year that the Primate Center focused too much on conservation efforts, Provost Peter Lange and other administrators appointed a new interim director of the center and charged him with increasing the presence of research there. Although Lange said the level of research is still far from where it needs to be by the center's next review in two-and-a-half years, he expressed satisfaction with the progress made since the summer.
One of the most significant changes has been the upgrade of heating facilities for the Primate Center's current buildings. The U.S. Department of Agriculture fined the center $2,200 in 1996 for seven violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including three animal deaths and 27 animal injuries caused by inadequate winter facilities. Administrators made several subsequent efforts to upgrade the buildings' open-flame heaters, but only got the money they needed last semester to buy new furnaces.
"With the long-suffering winterization under control, we've reached a new plateau," said Jim Siedow, vice provost for research. "We don't have to worry about things blowing up. That's a
The added winterization equipment is just one of several changes made at the Primate Center since last summer, when Hylander succeeded long-time director Kenneth Glander, who remains a professor of biological anthropology and anatomy.
Buses began running to the center this semester, after years of complaints from researchers, students and other Primate Center advocates, who cite the need for transportation for undergraduates taking classes, work-study students and campus visitors.
"The times are set up well for classes, or if an undergraduate wants to spend a whole day there, they can do that, or just spend half a day in the morning or in the afternoon," said William Hylander, BAA professor and interim director of the Primate Center. "If you build it, hopefully they'll come."
Still, the potential closing of the center remains a concern among some employees. Nancy Sokal, who has been a tour guide there for over 10 years, praised Hylander for adding bus service and improving facilities, but said that the center deserves more permanent improvements.
"I have a feeling with the way it's all being done that it's all temporary. I would feel more secure if they were building more permanent winterized buildings," she said. "It's important because you have to have places to conserve [the lemur's] natural habitat. They're like the rare book in the library. They deserve to be studied and preserved."
Siedow has been working with Hylander to make the Primate Center more appealing to researchers and attract more grant money. Both administrators expressed optimism at getting a renewal of the center's three-year, $1.2-million National Science Foundation grant and, although they did not have exact numbers on how much research funds have increased overall, the center is drawing new interest.
BAA Professor Matt Cartmill, for example, is beginning a three-year, $140,000 study of primate locomotion at center after not having researched there since the 1970s. He said a combination of changing research interests and the availability of the rare animals drew him to the center.
In addition, Hylander is attempting to find more space at the cramped center to devote to research. A fossil collection in one area will be moved off-site to free up more laboratory room, and a cabin that had been occupied by graduate students is now available for visiting researchers.
"I think we've really come a long way toward addressing the concerns in the original task force report," Siedow said. "The trick is to get the word out that the research enterprise is being ramped up, and if you've got research you want to do there, there are opportunities."
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