Boston College announces $150M expansion in the sciences

Boston College is betting big on the sciences.

The private Jesuit school, better known for its philosophy and economics programs, unveiled plans Friday for a $150 million science facility that will bring a new engineering major to campus.

School officials are calling it an ambitious step forward that combines the college’s longstanding strength in the liberal arts with its newer expansion into the sciences.

The crowning jewel of the 150,000-square-foot (13,935-square-meter) facility will be a new integrated science institute named after Apple executive Phil Schiller and his wife, Kim Gassett-Schiller, who donated $25 million for the project.