The College of Family and Consumer Sciences will showcase its new facilities as part of Homecoming and “Strengthening Families: To Become the Best” celebrations.

The college will host a public open house at 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21. Visitors can tour the $8.3 million Palmer Human Development and Family Studies Building, the newly renovated, food science lab in MacKay Hall and design lab in LeBaron Hall.

The open house will be self-guided as no scheduled tours are set, said Mary Jo Glanville, communications specialist for the college of family and consumer sciences.

The three-story, 36,482-square foot Palmer Building will showcase its word wall and waterfall, “One, Now, All” by Seattle artist Norie Sato along with the Child Development Laboratory School.

The building also houses the human development and family studies department, student support areas, and the Marriage and Family Therapy and the Family Financial Counseling clinics, Glanville said.

The newly renovated, state-of-the-art $500,000 food science lab in rooms 208 and 210 in MacKay Hall will also be featured. The lab just opened on Oct. 10 for classes.

During the tour, student projects can be reviewed, there will be some food samples and food demonstrations, said Cheryl Reitmeier, associate professor of food science and human nutrition.

The laboratory is designed to test experimental foods and conduct sensory evaluations of food; in the spring, students will also learn how to develop foods, she said.

The food lab has eight working units including one handicapped unit for students in upper level food science courses to teach students show to evaluate the products and develop new ones.

“The food product development lab is a special sensory lab to help evaluate products. There is special lighting to make the evaluation reliable,” Glanville said.

The lab was completely redone because the equipment was out-of-date, and the electrical capabilities were unable to keep all the equipment running. The new food preparation equipment in the lab are all Maytag products, who donated all the equipment to the college.

“Nothing had been done to it [lab] for a long time so everything needed to be updated, and it had inadequate electrical capabilities,” Glanville said. “The new lab can handle all the electricity needs from the equipment and computers.”

In 78 LeBaron Hall, guests can tour the new universal design learning lab. The learning lab is takes aspects from the home and Home for All Ages program. It is a universal design tomake the home more convenient, comfortable and attractive across the life-span.

The Home for All Ages exhibit was created in 1990 for the Farm Progress show to provide an approached design with products and building features that can be used for everyone, said JaneAnn Stout, director of ISU extension.

“The program has traveled all over the state and outside the states. It has been extremely popular. The intent is to make it more visible on our campus and citgizens around the state,” Stout said.

During the open house celebration, refreshments will also be served.