By Chris Moon
Johnson University broke ground this spring on a new 25,340-square-foot science building, part of an effort to bolster the science programs at the college in Knoxville, Tenn.
The new building will include four teaching laboratories, a chemical analysis room, and a “maker space” equipped with 3D printers, said Sarah Cathey, a Johnson University professor of biology and associate dean.
The building is expected to open in August 2026 and will overlook the pond in the center of the Johnson University campus. In addition to the labs, the structure will have four classrooms, as well as offices for the university’s math, technology, and science faculty.
The building also will have ample space for student gatherings, and it will signal Johnson’s growing commitment to training students in the sciences.
“It’s going to be huge,” Cathey said.
Emphasizing the sciences
Johnson University currently doesn’t have a dedicated science building.
Instead, the college has a single teaching lab that its science programs use. That building was updated about five years ago, and about seven courses share that lab each semester.
“It’s very busy,” Cathey said. “We teach everything from general chemistry to cellular biology in there.”
The time has come, however, for Johnson to make a greater investment in its science programs.
Cathey said she was hired in 2013 as Johnson’s first science faculty member, just after the institution transitioned from Johnson Bible College to Johnson University. At the time, the college was broadening its course offerings.
“The conversation with me at the time was centered around improving the quality of their science and math offerings,” Cathey said. “Just dream-wise, at some point, we would like to have actual programs in the sciences.”
She said Johnson eventually added a sports and fitness leadership program, as well as an undergraduate public health program. Each needed more science instructors and resources.
“We started adding little bits and pieces,” she said.
The college then started a pre-nursing program in partnership with Tennessee Wesleyan University. More bits and pieces were added.
‘A lot of growth’
Today, Johnson University has two full-time biologists, one half-time biologist, one chemist, one mathematician, and one nursing instructor, Cathey said.
This fall, the college will launch a computer science major with one full-time faculty member.
The college currently has about 35 students enrolled in science, technology, and math programs and 20 students in pre-nursing. Those comes out of Johnson’s total undergraduate enrollment of more than 600 students.
“That’s a lot of growth,” Cathey said. “It’s pretty amazing when I look back on it. It’s been a lot of work.”
Cathey said Christian colleges can benefit by engaging in the sciences.
Graduates should be able to have meaningful conversations with people from all walks of life and in many different fields of inquiry – something a broad, science-based education can help them to do.
“Our world really runs on technology, and we actually function from a place of scientific reasoning and logic, even if we don’t realize it,” Cathey said. “It’s foundational in our culture. For Christians to be able to engage people in the world, we really need to be able to think critically about that to evaluate what it means and how it intersects with our faith.”
Cathey said society also needs ethical practitioners of science – and those who can engage the world through healing, either through medicine or environmental pursuits.
“We’re looking at healing portions of the world that God has entrusted us,” she said.
Campus revamp
To make way for the construction of the new science building, the site first must be cleared of three houses, Cathey said.
One of those houses will be relocated on the campus and used by Johnson’s student life department, Cathey said. Two other houses were used for faculty housing and will be torn down.
Cathey said the new science building will complete the campus “quad” – finishing out one side of the Johnson University’s campus with a new academic building.
The college hasn’t released the cost for the new science building.
According to its website, the school is engaged in a three-year, $11 million capital campaign aimed at raising money for the new science building, student scholarships, and Johnson University’s “Royal Fund.”
By mid-March, the university had raised $3.6 million out of its $11 million goal, the university’s website said.
Chris Moon is a pastor and writer living in Redstone, Colorado.
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