A ribbon cutting ceremony took place on Thursday to welcome in the new Military Science Building to Georgia Southern University.

Many military, city and state officials and locals attended to commemorate the new building with speakers President Jaimie Hebert, Jean Bartels, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and Lt. Col. Erik Kjonnerod, professor of military science.

“During the tour of the old facility, cadets were tracing maps on walls because they didn’t have desk space to spread out on, and there actually were buckets capturing the dripping rain from the ceiling,” Bartels said as she reflected on the state of the old Military Science building located off the Pedestrian.

The new building is quite the inverse. “It is a 9.5 million dollar state of the art Military Science Building allocated through the state budget and approved by Gov. Nathan Deal in April 2014,” Hebert said.

The new building will play a vital role in the education of students pursuing a major or minor in military sciences. Kjonnerod described it as a “one stop shop.” The building contains a supply room, an arms room and a dedicated computer lab for ROTC students, as well as offices for professors of military sciences.

According to Hebert, the old Military Science portables will be used as transition buildings as GS builds additional buildings on campus. “We are about to break ground on a new classroom building over by the Pedestrium where the old Butler Buildings were located,” Hebert said. GS is also seeking funding for a new engineering building as well.

The GS ROTC program is a three-time recipient of the MacArthur Award and is the largest Army ROTC nursing program in the nation. Kjonnerod described the new building as “a testament of the University’s support.”

The new Military Sciences building can be found at 4326 Old Register Rd.