Construction on campus has continued on schedule and completed projects will serve to be great assets to the student body.
Katzen Arts Center
"Katzen is the first domino," says Gager. Once Katzen is complete, other construction plans, such as plans for the Kreeger and Watkins buildings, which will no longer have a use after those departments move to Katzen, will commence.
"Katzen is on schedule and [construction] is going well," says Gager. "The limestone skin of the building should be done in November, the interior of the building is beginning to come together, the parking garage is basically finished and we have started to do windows and build the walls inside the building."
Katzen Arts Center will be the new home for the Department of Performing Arts, and will
include many new facilities, including a new theatre, art gallery and numerous classrooms to fit the needs of students, faculty, and staff.
Gager expects construction to be complete by the end of March.
Kay Spiritual Center and the Quad
The new plaza in front of Kay is part of a much larger project for beautifying the Quad and is meant to compliment other designs such as the sidewalk down to the flags and the 9/11 concrete plaza in the center of the Quad.
"It's a project to bring out the aesthetic appeal of the plaza... this is another piece of an overall plan to renovate the Quad. The Quad was used for a long time as a roadway, allowing people to parallel park their cars outside the building, it was pretty disgusting," he explains. "We haven't done anything about the roads, but hopefully within the next few years we'll have the opportunity to expand and make the Quad more pedestrian friendly."
Joe Eldridge, University Chaplain, expresses excitement for the new plaza. "It will create an opportunity for community gatherings, such as the 9/11 plaza." The plaza will be of many similar architectural arrangements located around the Quad, he explains.
Intramural Sports Field
Construction on the sports field will begin later this week and continue through November, according to Jerry Gager, Facilities Planning and Development Director for AU. "We have a contract to place an artificial turf field down there instead of the what used to be a mud field," he says. The International Federation of Field Hockey requires teams to play on an artificial turf, so this construction will "give us an opportunity to bring the field hockey team back to campus, instead of playing at the University of Maryland," Gager explains.
Ed McLaughlin, Associate AD of External Affairs in the Athletics and Recreation Department, explains that "the field will be a synthetic surface of knitted nylon called Astroturf 12. Although not many students are still here from the last time the field was open (in the fall of 2000), keeping grass on the field was a huge problem." He continues, "the new surface will be able to endure high levels of use to address the problems we had with natural grass. The complex will feature a field hockey/soccer/football multi-use surface, a softball diamond and a beach volleyball complex. Several different student activities can be going on at the same time."
Gager and McLaughlin expect equipment for the construction to begin arriving this week.
Bender Library
After Spring Commencement 2004, major renovation began in Bender Library, says Patricia Wand, the University Librarian. "We are in the last phases of a major summer project... that involved re-carpeting and painting most of the library, and re-orienting the stacks on the second and third floors so we can extend them and add more shelving to hold more books," she explains. Wand expects to add another 20,000 volumes to the library this year.
Other renovations for the library included installing electrical outlets and data ports along the windows for easy access for students' laptops, as well as adding new signs and new leisure furniture throughout the building, according to Wand.
"Until [Aug. 30] we had two floors completely roped off. Since June 16, we've had some part of the building completely inaccessible, and we've been having to page books for students because we've had books in various places throughout the building in order to accommodate for this huge project," explains Wand. Most of the stacks are now accessible for student use, but some small sections still require students to request the library staff to retrieve the books. In order to re-orient the stacks the library staff has had to do a complete shift of the stacks twice, which has caused some of the sections to be inaccessible. They expect to do one more shift before the renovations are complete.
The library has also been busy licensing more than 20 databases to the library system, bringing the total databases accessible through the Aladdin online system to over 100.
Other changes to the library system include having a reference librarian on duty for certain hours in the Anderson Lab, beginning this October. The reference librarian will be there to help students conduct research as well as with technical assistance. Although the librarian will not be available 24 hours, the librarian's hours will be extended if the service is popular among students. A lounge area has also been added to the Anderson Lab for students to "take a break from their studying," says Wand. The lounge includes tables and chairs and a vending machine for student use.
The library staff expresses overall enthusiasm about the renovation. "We are very excited about the project," says Wand. The new renovations will allow for a more student-friendly environment, including things like library technology classes for such systems like the Aladdin database, a widely popular database on campus.
Gager is very confident about the status of the library renovations. "Renovations should wrap up within the next two weeks," he says.
SIS Building Expansion
According to Gager, a basic design is in the works for the School of International Service Building. "We are planning to build in the Bender Library parking lot and just basically extend the original building."
"We are no where near the construction stage yet," said Dean Louis Goodman of SIS. "Over the summer, the president met with architects and made plans that should be approved before long."
According to Dean Goodman, the SIS annex should be demolished in the near future. AU has applied for a permit to allow for the building to be demolished but it is a complication process.
"The SIS building has also received improvements this summer such as new carpeting and better audiovisual equipment," Goodman said. "I am pleased with its progress."
McCabe Health Center
"Plans are done, the project is out for bids, we expect to receive the bids this Friday at noon," Gager informs of the current situation of the McCabe building. It will be "another week from now before we have analyzed the bids and understood what alternates to accept, and to develop the actual assigned contracts for that project." Gager hops to begin renovation of McCabe by the end of September, to ready the new Student Health Center.
Workers will be "gutting the space, [McCabe] will be brighter, it will offer space for better technology and will be able to accommodate a larger clinical staff," said Bethany Chiaramonte, Student Health Center Director, in an interview last April. Blueprints also include plans for a more elaborate Wellness Center, which will have a "resource library, health education resources and a women's health program," according to Chiaramonte.
There are no plans for the Nebraska Building, the current location for the SHC, but evaluations for that project will begin after McCabe is well under way.
Student Confederation Office Renovation
The Student Confederation just completed their move to smaller office space on the second floor of the Mary Graydon Center. "I don't feel like we lost too much space," said Jamie Rea, SC secretary. "It definitely helps us to become a closer bunch of students."
According to Rea, the move is complete. "We are just tying up loose ends, getting computers set up...that sort of thing," Rea said.
"Now that the SC are all near each other in Mary Graydon, I feel that we have become more of a team now," said Polson Kanneth, SC President.
Mary Graydon Center Construction Plans
A conceptual design was approved two years ago to enclose the bridge at the north end of the Mary Graydon Center.
"Below the bridge is a room that is set to be another room for TDR," Gager said. "We are also going to use it for University Club activities." Gager hopes to make the room functional within a year.
Gager and architectural firms are also in the process of designing changes for the Tavern. Plans are to possibly block off the door into the fire stairwell to make room for a bigger stage for concerts.
According to Gager, the construction will allow for the University Center (Mary Graydon, Butler Pavilion, and the Sports Center), to become better linked and will make it easier for students to get between the three buildings.
Reston Limousine Service
Reston Limo Service is set to continue transporting AU students to and from the Park Bethesda building, said Kevin Wyatt, Director of Transportation Services.
"For now, AU buses will continue serving students to and from the Tenleytown metro stop, Tenley and main campuses and Reston Limo will be taking care of Park Bethesda transportation," Wyatt said.
Tunnel Design
"Right now we are still in a schematic design for the tunnel," Gager said. "We have a rough conceptual design in progress." Plans include demolishing the Osborn building. "Basically after Katzen is completed, the rest of the construction will sort of fall into place in a domino effect."
Rockwood Building
Renovations in the Rockwood building are scheduled to be complete within the next couple of weeks to make room for the AU Abroad offices, according to Gager.
The new Rockwood building will have computers for students to conduct internet research and more space for students to meet with study abroad advisers, says Sara Dumont, Director of AU Abroad. Because studying abroad involves meeting frequently with an AU Abroad adviser, "moving on campus is a crucial aspect to the program," Dumont explains. AU Abroad moved into the Rockwood building last week.
