On Friday, March 6, after a two-year hiatus, the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State will resume its public programming. The planetarium is one of this city’s most stellar assets that opens our eyes and our minds to the universe around us.
At this point, the planetarium will be operating in a temporary inflatable counterpart to the permanent physical structure that will be completed in 2019 as part of Buff State’s $100 million Science and Mathematics Complex construction project. It turns out that waiting for a total of six years was just too long to bear, and a plan was hatched to bridge the timeline gap in order to get the programming back on track*. The temporary inflatable planetarium is made possible thanks to funding from the Whitworth and Dorothy Ferguson Foundation. The public programming will commence on Friday, March 6 inside Buckham Hall.
“Buffalo State is incredibly grateful for the generosity and support from the Whitworth and Dorothy Ferguson Foundation,” said Buffalo State President Katherine S. Conway-Turner. “Because of the foundation’s wonderful commitment to the planetarium project, Buffalo State will once again be able to provide the Western New York community—most importantly our region’s K-12 students—with an inspiring look at the stars.”
For those who have not paid a visit to the planetarium, the programming goes well beyond simply viewing the celestial skies. Once the operation is back up and running, the Buff State fixture will help to impart education as it relates to Earth Sciences and the Science Education Department. In a day and age when our space explorations are reaching further and further, and our minds are collectively opening to the possibilities of life on other planets, there couldn’t be a better time to invest and support such an exploratory home-base operation.