Construction of Faraday II ceremoniously started Wednesday as ground was broken for the $21.4 million science building.

Although actual construction will not begin until the fall, the ceremony was held to accomodate those still on campus, said Eddie Williams, vice president of finance and planning.

The state has appropriated $20.4 million for the construction, but NIU still needs $5.5 million more for equipment, Williams said.

NIU Finance and Planning will oversee construction of the building, which is expected to take 18 to 24 months, said Planning Associate Doug Snow.

Faraday II will be the first state-funded building constructed at NIU since 1973, when Founders Memorial Library was built. The Office of Campus Recreation opened in 1984, but was funded by student and user fees, Snow said.

Roderick Groves, Board of Regents chancellor, said, “it’s good to see some new construction” after such a long period.

NIU’s physics department will occupy the first and second levels of Faraday II. The chemistry department will relocate to the third and fourth floors, Snow said.

The building will contain 39 laboratories, 45 offices, three seminar rooms and 75-seat and 135-seat lecture halls.

It also will feature an enclosed walkway that connects Faraday Hall to Faraday II, Snow said.

NIU President John La Tourette said the building is necessary to keep NIU a “high-yield university” because more than nine out of 10 undergraduates return to home communities to live and work after graduation, La Tourette said.

Only 45 percent of graduates from most universities go back to contribute to their local economies and tax bases, he said.

Physics deparment Chairman Dick Preston agreed the building is needed by both undergraduate and graduate students because one-fourth of graduates go on to teach elementary and high school students.

Illinois is 14th in the world “in size of its economy,” La Tourette said, calling the northern Illinois area the “industrial heartland.”

Richard Wagner, executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, said funding for the Faraday project was allocated from $360 million of state capital improvement funds.

The construction of Faraday II will mark “the high point of the current building boom,” Williams said.

“There is $80 to $100 million construction at NIU planned for the next four years,” he said. “Were going to change the face of NIU.”