A New Space for Neuroscience

Bethel’s growing neuroscience major has a new home this fall, and it’s poised to transform the experiences of both students and faculty alike. The updates were completed over the summer and include a new teaching lab, a testing room, an animal holding area, and a space for human research.

The space was made possible through the Called to More campaign, and more specifically through a gift made by Provost Emerita Deb Harless and her husband, Mark. Harless, who first came to Bethel as a first-generation college student in 1979, says the psychology faculty had a profound impact on her life. The Harlesses decided to name the lab in honor of Lucie Rom Johnson, professor of psychology emerita—and a mentor, colleague, and friend of Deb Harless. 

“Throughout her more than 40 years of service at Bethel University, Dr. Lucie Rom Johnson has provided transformational learning experiences for our students, encouraged and enriched faculty colleagues, and shaped Bethel University for the future,” Harless says. “She is an innovative teacher with a remarkably curious mind.” 

Johnson’s spirit of innovation and curiosity will live on at Bethel in the new neuroscience space, as students and faculty are now able to engage in research in ways they weren’t able to before. Assistant Professor of Psychology Rachel Anderson now has a research lab where her students will be able to perform behavioral tests to study rodent models of anxiety and depression. “We were previously working in a very tiny space and sharing biology’s animal housing,” Anderson explains. “But now neuroscience has two rooms to house animals, which is amazing.” 

Professor of Psychology Sherryse Corrow says that the testing room is a game changer for the student experience. “With that kind of extended space with controlled lighting, our students will be able to run experiments that we simply did not have the proper environment for before,” she explains. “These experiments require a two-computer system set up in such a way that the participant cannot see the experimenter's computer. This space is ideal for this.” 

From what she’s observed at schools of similar size, Anderson says that Bethel now has some of the best neuroscience facilities. “Neuroscience is a relatively new major, and many of the schools that I’m familiar with do not have state-of-the-art equipment and the capabilities that Bethel now has,” she says. “Our students are now able to do the research that they might be able to do at bigger schools—but they won’t find this at schools similar in size to Bethel throughout the country.” 

At the ribbon cutting ceremony, Bethel President Ross Allen spoke of how the new neuroscience space will continue Bethel’s long tradition of students and faculty learning together through research. “The mind and neurotic system are often referred to by medical scientists as the last frontier,” he said. “I’m excited to see the impact our faculty—and through them, our students—will have in our communities.”