by Emily Snell | Aug 8, 2012 | News Slider
Renovations to the student center, including adding Auntie Anne’s and Zebi along with new tables, chairs, booths and flooring, are almost complete. As previously reported by Lumination, 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, pictured below, are 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 Tom Wood, director of campus enhancement, the food court area will have new floor tiles, and new tables and chairs by the time classes start. Wood said the changes will give “a wow effect.” “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.” Numerous changes have occurred on campus during the summer, including improvements to McFarland, the Student Activities Center, McQuiddy and Elam. Also, a new track, located at the high school football field, is almost complete, and according to Wood, it will fulfill NCAA requirements. Changes to the track included putting in drainage systems, new asphalt and even reconfiguring the track. The track’s new asphalt was poured about a week ago and 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...
by Emily Snell | Jul 30, 2012 | News Slider
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...
by Emily Snell | May 13, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
Renovations to the student center are only a small aspect of the construction changes occurring at Lipscomb this summer. Tom Wood, director of campus enhancement, said the university will be spending about $11 million on new construction and renovations to existing areas. The list of construction and renovation work includes moving the bookstore and Uncle Dave’s to the lower level of the student center, developing a lounge area and installing a Zebis deli and Auntie Anne’s pretzels in the current bookstore space, updating McFarland by painting and furnishing the lobby and creating a “dean’s suite,” adding air conditioning in the SAC and McQuiddy gyms, creating office spaces in the basement of Burton, finishing the Cool Springs campus, installing a new track for the high school and university track teams, adding an academic resource center in the library basement and completing the nursing building. Wood said the bookstore will move to the Arlo’s location on the lower level of the student center, creating additional food service space in the current book store area. Wood said the new set up will have Auntie Anne’s and Zebis and a more private eating/lounge space. “It offers some additional food service area,” he said. “I think a lot of students have said they would like a place that is semi-private where they can have some booths and things like that where they can have a little bit of privacy instead of being out in the middle of a room some place.” In the next year or so, Wood said the university plans to extend the Starbucks porch area around the rest of the building....
by Tyler Lallathin | Dec 2, 2010 | News Slider
“Lake Lipscomb,” as some informally call the planned water feature by the baseball field and tennis courts, had too much water for its own good. While developing the retention pond into a lake area, complete with fountain, builders discovered an underground spring. So a plan had to be developed to deal with this excess “live” water source before continuing the development. “Several design changes had to be made,” said Tom Wood, director of campus enhancement. He said that new equipment had to be ordered to handle the spring water so that the lake can be completed. Once the equipment arrives to deal with the unexpected water source, the contractors will be able to continue their construction of the lake. Wood explains that when it’s completed, plans call for the area to include “added landscaping and eventually a variety of seating areas and other potential enhancements for student and community enjoyment.” The cascading fountain planned for the lake will be 36 feet high. The lake will also provide irrigation for all of campus when it is finished, by pumping water from underground into the lake, and then on to irrigate campus. The lake also will serve as a learning opportunity for students to enrich themselves in knowledge of plant species and the biological aspects of the area. Campus enhancement is on track to have the lake finished in January 2011, weather permitting. “There is also some discussion about providing the lake with fish,” said Wood. Lipscomb will continue to grow and improve the look of its campus. The next plan to enhance campus is a fountain and baptistry in Bison...
by Rachel Carden | Oct 4, 2010 | News Slider
Wondering what the construction behind the baseball field is for? Are you hoping it’s more on-campus parking? Well go ahead and let those hopes down, because Lipscomb is transforming the area into a pond with a fountain to enhance the look of the university. “I do a lot of visiting to campuses across the nation, and I noticed that a lot of campuses have water features, and we have a lack of water features on campus. So I told Dr. Lowry that I thought that it would make a great pond,” said Tom Wood, Director of Campus Enhancement. Walkways, picnic tables, an iron fence and landscaping will eventually be added around the pond to create a child-friendly environment open to the surrounding neighborhoods. The fountain will shoot 30 feet in the air, and administration is discussing whether or not to add fish. “It will be a nice gathering area for students and neighbors,” Wood said. “It will be a great enhancement to the university, so I think it’s something that we will be very pleased with.” The area is not officially named yet, but Wood suggests holding a contest and letting students submit name ideas. “Right now I call it Lake Lipscomb, but maybe we should let the students decide,” Wood said. The pond will still meet 100 year flood levels, so Granny White will not be flooded if a heavy rain comes. Phase two of this construction will be adding a combined fountain and baptistry to the middle of Bison Square. Wood is hoping to break ground by next summer. Students have been very vocal about what enhancements...