UB Buzz

Earth Day: Tent City at U of North Texas

To coincide with Earth Day, University of North Texas art students turned the entryway of the Environmental Education, Science and Technology (EESAT) Building into a temporary “tent city” for an art project that comments on environmentalism and consumerism.
 
A sturdy camping tent filled with a shiny refrigerator, dehumidifier and a bin of Clorox wipes sits in one spot — commenting on how well the “ultimate outdoorsman” can survive in nature on his own. A few feet away, a tent made of a plastic tarp and wooden boards hangs from the ceiling, addressing the plight of earthquake-ravaged Haitians in limbo. Another student's child-like fort is made of bedsheets. Toys and cookie crumbs litter the floor, and “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” plays on a small TV.

“It opens their minds about the possibilities of what art can be,” says Susan Cheal, the associate professor of studio art who instructs students in this Hybrid Forms art class from UNT’s College of Visual Arts and Design. “The common thought is it has to be a painting or sculpture, but art is everywhere. Good art asks more questions than gives answers.”

The exhibition, titled “Neither Outside In Nor Inside Out,” will be on display until May 8. And last evening in the same space, the university held “eARTh Day: A Celebration of Environmental Music, Writing, Art and Film." The artists inhabited their environments at the free event, which also included poetry and short story readings, musical performances, and films.

Student involvement is such a natural fit for Earth Day events,  and we like how this institution provided such an in-your-face locale for this important exhibit. What did your campus do to raise awareness for Earth Day?

Photos by Rhonda Boaz/UNT

Study on Targeted Violence on Campuses

Following a June 2007 report on issues raised in the Virginia Tech tragedy, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Friday released a study of targeted violence incidents on U.S. college campuses.
According to a media release, in total, 272 incidents were identified through a comprehensive search of more than 115,000 results in open-source reporting from 1900 to 2008. The study is being targeted to campus safety professionals who are responsible with identifying, assessing, and managing violent risk.
Its findings will be available on each agency's website: www.secretservice.gov, www.ed.gov, and www.fbi.gov. Or see here.

Post-VA Tech: Designing with an Eye on Security

The following is the perspective of Chris Waltz, a senior associate at Steffian Bradley Architects’ Enfield, Conn., office. He is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

For me, it started as an e-mail from my college roommate with a link and the simple phrase “Something bad is happening at Tech.”  Although I was thousands of miles away working in the London office of Steffian Bradley Architects at the time, when I clicked the link and saw the events playing out at Virginia Tech, I was instantly transported back to Blacksburg, Va.  The images on the monitor were both familiar and surreal, and from that moment forward the peaceful college campus where I had spent nearly a decade of my life would be changed forever.

I earned multiple degrees at Virginia Tech and credit my time there with a vast amount of personal and professional growth.  Many of my second and third year classes were held in Norris Hall, as it was a primary classroom building for engineering lectures and labs.  The beautiful collegiate gothic building is typical of many classroom buildings constructed in the mid-20th century -- with long, double-loaded corridors to maximize useable space and stairs and exits located to allow for an orderly evacuation in case of fire.  Most classrooms hold about 50 people and have a single door.  It is likely that the people who designed this building were more concerned about nuclear fallout than a student rampaging through the corridors with an automatic weapon, but that is exactly what happened on April 16, 2007, when Seung-Hui Cho murdered 30 of his 32 victims in this building in the deadliest school shooting in United States history.

In the wake of this tragic event, which occurred three years ago today, there have been significant changes at my alma mater as well as other institutions of higher learning and also within my profession. The administration at Virginia Tech was criticized and praised in equal measure for their handling of the situation, but in true Hokie fashion they have moved forward to become a leader in implementing campus alert systems utilizing the internet, e-mail, text messaging, telephones, electronic message boards, and campus sirens and loudspeakers, creating a multiple-redundant system that has been replicated on campuses across the country and has, in fact, become the norm.

As architects we are left to work out what we can do to help stem the tide of campus violence that we experienced firsthand over the past year with violence at a number of campuses, including the University of Connecticut, Florida International University, and Yale. As a profession, we generally agree that the “open” campus model going back hundreds of years is something we do not want to lose; after all, would Yale’s Old Campus or Harvard Yard retain their character if they were dotted with metal-detector check points? Obviously the design solution has to be more subtle and work in tandem with technology and communication to create a campus that is welcoming and yet as safe as possible.       

For buildings, entrances and exits are a good place to start.  When I heard that Cho was holed up in Norris Hall, I immediately feared the worst since I remembered the traditional “crash bars” at all exits which could easily be chained and padlocked.  Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened, leaving the students trapped inside.  Contemporary push-pad exit devices allow the same ease of exit in case of an emergency but can only be locked by an authorized person using a key.

In the classrooms themselves, a helpful security option is to provide an emergency push-button intercom connected directly to campus or local security akin to what is used in banks or in nurse-call systems.  By using Internet connections already in the classroom it would be possible for professors or students to quickly call for help in case of classroom violence or just a common medical emergency.  

In addition to the buildings themselves there is also the concern about the campus at-large, which is typically dealt with through the campus masterplan.  While building shape and placement is usually considered for program, adjacencies, and overall aesthetics, it is also important to consider sightlines and views between buildings, the location of lights and emergency call-boxes, as well as multiple paths for evacuating a space.  These concepts have always been a concern for individual crimes such as muggings and rape, but perhaps it is time to consider that large groups of people may need to exit a section of campus quickly to avoid an individual intent on doing harm to as many people as possible. 

Steffian Bradley Architects recently completed a project at Lasell College (Mass.), which constructed much-needed parking. The underground garage has a green roof on top of it, creating a new residential quad for the school. By providing a wide-open grassy quad in place of a congested surface parking lot we were able to provide a space that was not only more student-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing, but also more sustainable and much safer.

After discussions with many of my colleagues, it is clear that none of us believe we can solve the issues of campus security with architecture alone. It needs to be a combination of design, communication, and technology, resulting from a focused discussion between the university and the designers.  If thinking more about safety in our designs helps to save just one student, faculty, or staff member, then it will be time well spent.

Can This Building Be Saved?

It’s a question that’s increasingly being asked on campuses, as the desire to use existing buildings effectively is strong. After all, it avoiding new construction usually saves money and is the greener thing to do. And often an aging building can work for today’s changing needs.

From Treanor Architects' Student Life division, here are five important considerations for campus officials to explore before green-lighting the next renovation project:

1. Programming. Is this building design truly capable of serving the desired programming and occupancy, now and into the future? Once it’s renovated, will the new building be flexible enough to be redesigned to meet new program needs 40 or 50 years down the road?

2. Partial salvage. Is this building structurally sound enough to last? Are there significant structural or space limitations? Would it make more sense to tear it down and salvage building materials for new construction? At Ohio State University, for example, Habitat for Humanity was called in to deconstruct the existing student union and materials were salvaged for the charity’s projects as well as for use in the new Ohio Union.

3. Hazardous materials. What’s hiding under the walls in this building? In many older facilities, removal of asbestos, lead and other hazardous materials adds cost and time to the project. A conservative estimate of these costs must weigh into decision making. This is not the place to underestimate.

4. Balancing occupancy with schedule. Is it feasible to work on the building while it’s occupied? How quickly will the campus need to bring the facility on-line? And how will users of the building be accommodated in the event that the building needs to be emptied? What costs will this add to the project?

5. The 70% rule.  Is it going to cost less than 70% of the cost of new construction to renovate this building? If not, think twice. For example, at the University of Iowa, converting a campus hotel into student housing meant addressing moisture issues, replacing HVAC systems, adding insulation and other high-cost infrastructure and building envelope measures. Yet at 50% the cost of a brand new residence hall, the renovation, which will also provide students with desirable private bathrooms, is a wise expenditure.

What was the best decision for an older building on your campus - renovate or build anew?

Keeping a Guarantee

Lansing Community College (Mich.) has been making news about an enrollment policy with a money-back guarantee starting next month, during a time when such a offer would seem questionable.
In May, the “Get a Skill, Get a Job” program will center on four of that area's most in-demand technical jobs: call-center specialists, pharmacy technicians, quality inspectors and computer machinists. Students who take six-week courses in certain subjects (earning a certificate) will be guaranteed a job within a year or be refunded their tuition money.
Those who are accepted in the program can't miss any classes or assignments and must participate in an employment readiness workshop. After they complete one of the six-week training courses, they must prove that they're actively job searching.
A school in the east offers a similar guarantee, but it focuses on undergrads. Since 1999, administrators at Thomas College (Maine) have maintained a vow through the Guaranteed Job Placement Program (G-Job). G-Job, a contractual partnership, offers two options for baccalaureate graduates don’t secure employment within six months. (See University Business magazine's report on G-Job here.)
First, re-enroll at Thomas for free or have the college pay their monthly federal subsidized student loans for up to a year or until a job is landed. Or, those who choose to head back to class may either take an unlimited number of tuition-free undergraduate courses for up to two years or take up to half of the graduate courses required to complete any master’s degree program. Students must maintain at least a 2.75 GPA, be in good financial standing, complete an internship, and have contact with career services.
In just over a decade, only six Thomas graduates have ever taken advantage of the guarantee (two of them in the past two years). Most opted to take graduate courses.
As for Lansing, officials are reported as saying they anticipate the job guarantee program will be highly competitive. A maximum of 15-16 participants per program is planned.

April Fodder for Thought

Check out these three new web exclusives, accompanying the April edition of University Business magazine:

• "Squeeze Play 2010 and Eight Ways to Increase Retention"

In his piece, Neal A. Raisman, a consultant on issues such as retention and enrollment, weighs in on current public opinion of higher education according to results in Public Agenda's latest report, "Squeeze Play 2010: Continues Public Anxiety on Cost, Harsher Judgments on How Colleges Are Run." Raisman argues how college and university leaders should pay strict attention to these notions and how they can correct them: with greater academic customer service.

• "Health Care Reform: Opportunities to Address the Shadow Uninsured Student"

With the recent passing of health care legislation, it remains uncertain to determine what specific affects will follow. So, for example, what does this win mean for college students? Bryan A. Liang, executive director, Institute of Health Law Studies, California Western School of Law, writes that this feat can only occur if institutions act to fulfill their fiduciary obligations and avoid suspect school health practices that benefit the school instead of the student. Liang, also co-director of San Diego Center for Patient Safety, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, authors the report, “Crisis on Campus: Student Access to Health Care,” in the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform.

• "Preventing Targeted Violence in Our Academic Institutions"

With the third anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy this month, and the recent shooting at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, targeted violence has become a frequent issue of concern on campuses. Arnette Heintze and Matthew Doherty find that academic leaders don't realize there are cost-effective counter-strategies that minimize the risks of such a devastating event. The writers (Heintze, partner and chief executive officer at Hillard Heintze LLC; Doherty, senior vice president) advise on how to carry them out.

Admissions: Tourin’ It Up

College tours are meant to do two things: show off the best parts of life at a given school and generate interest in the university to as many prospective students as possible. From my experience as millennial undergraduate student, my college search began online. I didn’t even visit the school I would ultimately attend in person until after I had been admitted. I did, however, frequent its admissions homepage and watch what other students were saying on our admitted students group on Facebook. Virtual tours and social networking are increasingly important as my peers and I rely heavily on what we can see and experience online. For those schools that we deem worthy enough to visit in person, the more innovative the college tour, the more likely we are to remember it and thus attend in the fall.  The University of the South, known locally as Sewanee, is a strong environmental college that recognizes how to highlight the most unique quality of their school by giving prospective students a hands-on tour.

Located in Sewanee, Tennessee high on the Cumberland Plateau about an hour and a half hour southeast of Nashville, The University of the South gives prospective students the opportunity to take a guided tour of “The Domain,” the natural terrain on which the campus was built. An expansive piece of preserved natural landscape, The Domain allows students to hike through 13,000 acres of undisturbed trails, rock climb, walk through caves wrought with original Native American artifacts, kayak or swim in an expansive man-made lake, or simply bask in the beauty few other college students have access to. With such a unique feature of campus, why wouldn’t the university want to show it off to prospective students? 

Before visiting campus, prospective students are urged to plan at least half a day for their tour—and to bring sturdy outdoor shoes. Upon completing a tour of campus, students and parents are given the opportunity to do a hike accompanied by a student guide. This informal continuation of the tour not only lets students see a unique feature of campus, but also gives them a place to ask a student guide questions in a social setting that they may not have felt comfortable asking in a large group.

Other colleges and universities that have made their tours unusual and thus memorable for students are Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. and Alfred University in Alfred, NY. Gustavus gives a more comprehensive tour to students who return to campus for follow-up tours focusing on providing insight into school traditions such as sitting in the student section at basketball games, stories of ghosts in the library, sledding on lunch trays, and twirling a cube of modern art on campus with the letters BCAD.  According to Gustavus tradition, whichever letter lands face up will be the incoming student’s first grade at the university. Alfred allows prospective students the opportunity to ride a seven person bike for campus tours rather than walking.

The characteristic these schools have in common is a creative tour experience completely unique to the assets of their university. Many schools are starting to recognize the need for innovative college tours—from riding a seven person bicycle or hiking in the hills of Tennessee to providing a comprehensive view of campus via online college tours. The online option is a great way to engage prospective students, making your university intriguing enough for them to want to visit in person. More information on how to accomplish this feat is available on our website.