Jim Bailey (second from left), immediate past president of the Commodores League, presented a $5,000 check on Tuesday to Jacksonville University officials for the construction of a new Marine Science Center on campus. Receiving the check were (from left) Kerry Romesburg, university president, Ron Autrey, board of trustees vice chair, and Quinton White, dean of the college of arts and sciences. White said officials have raised about $4 million of the $10 million goal and hope to wrap up fund raising in about six months. The new center will house new research activities as well as a preparatory high school program and offices for the St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Northeast Florida fisheries lab. “Obviously, the center will focus on the St. Johns River,” said White. “But our intent is to make this the premier research institution in the area focusing on the marine environment.” White said construction on road and other infrastructure has already begun and the building should be complete by 2009.