Auburn University held a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday for the new Solon and Martha Dixon Foundation Learning Center in Andalusia.
The learning center will be a part of the university’s Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center, which is used extensively by the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences as well as many outdoors groups.
James Shepard, dean of Auburn’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, said the 6,000-square-foot facility will be home to a 100-seat auditorium and a 40-seat classroom. The $1.6 million project is being funded in part through a $912,000 gift from the Solon and Martha Dixon Foundation, Shepard said.
“They’ve been hugely important,” he said. “We essentially would not have started this project without their support. We wouldn’t have the money to do it.”
The late Solon Dixon was a 1926 graduate of Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University, and worked in the forestry industry after beginning his career in the aeronautical engineering and flight education programs at Auburn.
From Opelika & Auburn Now News: https://www2.oanow.com/news/2012/jun/06/au-holds-groundbreaking-forestry-center-ar-3929850/