Students will notice some obvious changes to campus when they return in August, as most of the summer enhancement projects wrap up in the next few weeks.
Tom Wood, director of campus enhancement, said he thinks the improvements will have “the wow effect.”
Besides the addition of Lipscomb’s nursing building on the north side of campus, transformation of the student center will be one of the most major changes students may notice.
The university bookstore and Uncle Dave’s have moved to the lower level of the student center in the old Arlo’s location. Auntie Anne’s and Zebi will be in the former bookstore space. There will also be a lounge area with new carpet, booth seating, extra tables and chairs, and a small performance stage in one corner. According to Wood, the food court area will have new floor tiles, and new tables and chairs by the time classes start.
“There’s a lot of interior improvements to the student center,” he said. “I think it will be something they will really enjoy. I think there are some great things happening in the student center.”
The nursing building is on schedule to be ready for the fall semester, Wood said, and will be an “exciting” thing for the university and the nursing program.
“It’s really going to enhance our nursing program tremendously,” he said. “We have 120 nursing students who will be studying in there this fall, so that’s a big improvement over last year’s enrollment in nursing. I think that will continue to grow.”
Students living in Elam can look forward to renovations in that dorm. Wood said the rooms in that residence hall now have new paint, hardware, doors, blinds, flooring and furniture. Elam’s lobby and center courtyard will also be different when students return.
“I think those students living in Elam will be much surprised and much pleased,” Wood said.
Parking is consistently a concern for students and administration, and Wood said the university might develop more parking in a potential new area this fall.
“The university administration is constantly trying to work on parking. Being in a suburban area, it’s really difficult,” Wood said. “We are looking at some potential parking to the north of the campus that we may even try to get started later this fall.”
Wood said the university track, located at the high school football field, is nearing the final stages of becoming NCAA compliant, which involved putting in drainage systems, new asphalt and even reconfiguring the track. The track’s new asphalt was recently poured and now has to sit for 30 days before the track surface can be put in place.
“We had to reconfigure it because the previous track did not meet NCAA standards, so we changed some slopes and changed some lengths and things like that,” Wood said. “It’s been a pretty big project, but now it will be NCAA ready.”
An academic resource center is now available in the computer center for students needing assistance with course work. Wood said the “student success center” is equipped with offices for student retention staff to help students who need it. The switchboard desk has been moved to a new location to allow the entrance of the computer center to serve as a lounge, Wood said.
“We have taken the old media center and one of the computer labs and turned it into a student success center,” Wood said. “It will have a lot of nice furniture, all new finishes, new carpet, the entire floor is being recarpeted.”
Other changes across campus include installing new outlets and furniture in the library, pouring new concrete to repair sidewalks, adding air conditioning to the gyms in the Student Activities Center and McQuiddy, reflooring the lobby and replacing the doors in McQuiddy, and renovating the lobby of McFarland to create a dean’s suite.
The fountain/baptistery project, which would take place in the square, may begin in the fall, according to Wood, although more specific details are not currently available.
“It was kind of decided that phase one of that whole Bison Square redo should include redoing all of the pavers, so that’s going to cost some more money,” Wood explained. “That kind of threw us back a little bit, but we thought it was important to do that.”
Wood said construction on the pharmacy research building, located south of the Hughes center, is expected to start in October.
Check back later in the week for more images of campus construction and renovation, or look at more of our photos on Flickr.
Photo Credit: Mohammed Alamri