The Corporation has formally decided to build an undergraduate science center, Dean Ford announced yesterday.

Ford told yesterday's faculty meeting that $1 million had been appropriated from the Faculty's unrestricted funds for the center and that additional funds would be sought from various foundations and the Federal government.

The center will include classrooms and laboratory and library facilities in addition to office space for the science departments. Ford emphasized that it would provide "instructional as well as research" facilities and said he hoped for a quite extensive library and undergraduate study area in the building, "a scientific Lamont."

By including the library in the plans for the center, the University has increased its chances of obtaining Federal assistance. Ford hopes to receive some money from various National Science Foundation programs and possibly from funds allocated under the Higher Education Facilities Act.

No Plans Released

A detailed plan for the center has been prepared by the office of Arthur D. Trottenberg, assistant dean of the Faculty for Resources and Planning, but it has not yet been released.

The Doty Report's increased emphasis on the natural sciences was apparently one of the factors that prompted the Corporation's decision to move ahead. Ford noted that regardless of the final outcome of the debate on the report, it was likely that in the next few years there would be an increased number of undergraduates taking science courses.

The center will also permit the University to continue its drive to give all departments adequate office space. Ford hinted that the new center could provide the Department of Mathematics with a new home and said that when the Social Relations Department moved into the new William James building, Emerson would be renovated for the Philosophy Department's offices.

It is unclear whether the science center will qualify for aid under the Higher Education Facilities Act, but President Pusey and Ford indicated last week that the University would apply for funds in the near future.