{"id":21320,"date":"2014-07-29T11:55:33","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T15:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=21320"},"modified":"2014-08-29T12:02:47","modified_gmt":"2014-08-29T16:02:47","slug":"building-on-solid-footing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/building-on-solid-footing\/","title":{"rendered":"Building on Solid Footing"},"content":{"rendered":"

EMU\u2019s internal emails <\/b><\/span>this summer were unusual \u2013 yet oddly heartening. The combined hubbub of construction projects and thousands of summer guests made for feelings of excitement \u2013 and of dislocation.<\/p>\n

There was this funny message: \u201cHistory professors Mark Sawin<\/b> and Mary Sprunger<\/b> hope students will find them in their temporary office spaces borrowed from the library.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some employees signed up to help colleagues move their office belongings from spaces they need to vacate on campus to other landing spots before classes begin.<\/p>\n

A dozen staffers volunteered to clean dormitory rooms on a Saturday morning in July, responding to an emailed request for extra cleaning help. (Physical plant staffers needed assistance to achieve a quick turn-around between two huge summer camps using the residence halls, back to back.)<\/p>\n

EMU\u2019s long-time registrar, David Detrow \u201977<\/b>, was juggling classroom assignments, squeezing classes into all available spaces, awaiting the completion of classroom, seminar and office spaces on the second and third floor of Roselawn, plus those in the east section of the Suter Science Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s satisfying to reuse and bring to new life a residence hall that has been under-utilized,\u201d said physical plant director C. Eldon Kurtz \u201976<\/b>, perched atop the three-story-high unfinished elevator shaft attached to Roselawn, surveying a stupendous eastern mountain view with his assistant director, Ed Lehman<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Daryl Bert \u201997<\/b>, who monitors EMU\u2019s construction and renovation projects as vice president for finance, noted that inspiration for renovating Roselawn flowed from successfully meeting the needs of EMU\u2019s fast-growing Intensive English Program. Before IEP moved to the revamped first floor of Roselawn in 2012, IEP was lodged in a small house near the seminary building on Smith Avenue.<\/p>\n

Success of\u00a0IEP<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter our success with IEP\u2019s space, we began to consider whether we could re-purpose the other floors of Roselawn,\u201d Bert said. He added, however, that IEP\u2019s growth owed more to \u201cthe energy and entrepreneurship of [IEP director] Kathleen Roth<\/b>,\u201d than to its new space, which merely addressed the need for additional space generated by Roth\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

By the spring 2015 semester, one of the largest classrooms on campus will be on the third floor of Roselawn. It will feature a soaring ceiling, made possible by a \u201cpop-up\u201d structure on the roof of Roselawn, offering a great, naturally lit space for up to 50 people.<\/p>\n

Another room will be the hub of distance-learning, with television screens, cameras and seats for 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect a lot of our growth in graduate and professional studies over the next number of years to be in the development of distance-learning programs,\u201d said Jim Smucker<\/b>, dean of EMU\u2019s newly named School for Graduate and Professional Studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a few exceptions, we are saying any new program needs to be able to be delivered at a distance. Our preferred model will be a hybrid approach which will include short-term residencies and synchronous and asynchronous delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The undergraduate side of the university is also growing, with a 6% increase over the last three years and a 39% increase in applications since 2009. Tallying all of the programs, including graduate students, \u201cwe are as large of a university as we have ever been since opening as a school in 1917,\u201d said Luke Hartman \u201991<\/b>, vice president for enrollment.<\/p>\n

The second and third floor of Roselawn will bring together a number of liberal arts departments that often collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner \u2013 history, applied social sciences, Bible and religion, and language and literature. (Psychology will join this group on a temporary basis, awaiting renovation of the western portion of the Suter Science Center.) A large-sized classroom, medium-sized classroom, seminar room, and gathering area will be shared among these departments.<\/p>\n

Two of these departments will be vacating old houses on the southern edge of campus, which will be turned into administrative offices and \u201cintentional community\u201d housing for students. The former language and literature area will be occupied by the department of development and church relations, which is moving from a privately owned house for which EMU paid rent.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, renovations on the 45-year-old Suter Science Center are fully underway, with the word \u201crenovations\u201d used broadly. The \u201chead room\u201d on Suter\u2019s southern flank had to be torn down entirely when its foundation proved to be unstable. So that part of Suter Science will be rebuilt from the ground up. Some other parts of Suter have been gutted, as necessary to rework the ducting for heating, cooling and ventilation and to make other changes required for state-of-the-art science laboratories and classrooms.<\/p>\n

Most building since 2000<\/b><\/p>\n

Construction projects this summer are the most extensive undertaken at EMU since the northern section of the University Commons was built in 2000 to house the athletic facilities, snack bar, game room, student-life offices, and bookstore. That cost $11 million. The construction budget for the projects underway this summer will total $9.4 million.<\/p>\n

For its first 90 years, EMU averaged one major construction project every seven years. The pace of new construction and renovations has accelerated in recent years, as EMU seeks to accommodate the growing demand for up-to-date spaces.<\/p>\n

Cedarwood residence hall was completed in the fall of 2009, along with extensive renovations to Elmwood and Maplewood residence halls \u2013 all conforming to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. These dorms have proven to be highly popular for rental by summer groups, which accounts for the thousands of new faces on campus this summer.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the Lee Eshleman Studio and MainStage theaters, Margaret Martin Gehman Art Gallery, Common Grounds Coffeehouse, and the Kenneth A. Longacre Sr. Advanced Media Lab were completed, rounding out the renovation of the University Commons.<\/p>\n

Renovations to the east portion of the Suter Science Center began in early 2014 \u2013 a $7 million project.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo stay on the forefront of a whole-person education \u2013 with graduates who become physicians, nurses, lab technologists, physical therapists, and other science professionals \u2013 we are committed to having the quality of facilities needed by our teachers and students,\u201d said Kirk Shisler \u201981<\/b>, vice president for advancement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply grateful to the 465 alumni, friends and foundations that have supported our current renovations,\u201d he said.\u201d*<\/sup><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Kurtz says Roselawn is proving to be an \u201camazing transformation of spaces.\u201d Previously, consideration had been given to tearing down Roselawn, since it was not accessible to people with physical disabilities and had no air conditioning or cross ventilation via its narrow windows. But it was built on a solid foundation, with a strong shell, so Kurtz and Lehman worked with Blue Ridge Architects to find a way to salvage the building.<\/p>\n

Learning from leed work<\/b><\/p>\n

Now Kurtz thinks Roselawn might end up being one of the nicest places on campus, with \u201call the lessons we learned in putting up LEED-certified residence halls being applied to Roselawn. These are standard for us now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Cedarwood, Roselawn will have its climate controlled through a \u201cvariable refrigerant flow\u201d system, used successfully for 20 years in Japan and Europe but fairly new to the United States. The occupants of each room will be able to regulate the temperature to their satisfaction. \u201cWe keep adding climate-controlled space, yet our energy usage keeps going down,\u201d said Kurtz. \u201cSaving energy is really satisfying to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between the construction projects and the high usage of facilities by summer groups, Kurtz said his staff have been stretched thin this summer \u2013 \u201cwe haven\u2019t budgeted additional positions to take on the extra work.\u201d On the plus, \u201cwe\u2019re looking forward to less maintenance on the ancient and obsolete HVAC systems that are being replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lest smaller improvements be overlooked amid the big ones, note that night lighting is appearing on the sand volleyball court, with labor provided by physical plant staff and materials partly covered by a grant from the student government association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EMU\u2019s internal emails this summer were unusual \u2013 yet oddly heartening. The combined hubbub of construction projects and thousands of summer guests made for feelings of excitement \u2013 and of ... read more about Building on Solid Footing<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":21321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,266,14715,5643,12508,5708],"tags":[12182,15958,15112,9067,14791,14283,7159,7226,9331,7256],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-21320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-campus-life","category-environmental-sustainability","category-iep","category-sustainability","tag-daryl-bert","tag-david-detrow","tag-ed-lehman","tag-eldon-kurtz","tag-jim-smucker","tag-kathleen-roth","tag-kirk-shisler","tag-luke-hartman","tag-mark-metzler-sawin","tag-mary-sprunger"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding on Solid Footing - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/building-on-solid-footing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building on Solid Footing - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EMU\u2019s internal emails this summer were unusual \u2013 yet oddly heartening. 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