Cubix Corporation, owned by Don Lehr and Al Fiegehen, has donated $20,000 worth of computer equipment for Western Nevada Community College's new observatory. The equipment will guide three telescopes and operate the Web server at the Jack C. Davis Observatory to be built in the coming year at WNCC Carson City, according to Helaine Jesse, vice president of Institutional Advancement.
"The outpouring of generosity by Cubix Corporation, the Nevada Gaming Foundation for Educational Excellence, The Nevada Bell Foundation and The Builders Association of Western Nevada is making this project grow from the original idea of a 20-by-30 foot domed observatory with sliding roof sections over three telescopes."
Construction of the facility has been approved by the University and Community College System Board of Regents. Hershenow & Klippenstein Architects of Reno are donating design services.
Because of the project expansion, Jesse said additional fund raising will be needed through grants and donations, and the timetable for construction has been revised. She said groundbreaking will take place in spring 2001 and construction should be complete in fall 2001.
The observatory will be named for Jack C. Davis, WNCC's founding president, who is a member of the gaming foundation.