Construction

Colleges and universities stand to reap the benefits of tens of billions of dollars in federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The legislation will impact everything from student aid and research funding to technology investments and projects planning. Two experts, Kevin Hegarty, vice president and chief financial officer at University of Texas, Austin, and Lander Medlin, executive vice president of APPA, provide valuable insight about the stimulus package in this edited digest of our web seminar.

A YEAR AGO THIS SPRING, AS we dedicated the new Julia Thompson Smith Chapel on our campus, one of the highlights was the multifaith blessing. It was an exciting occasion, the completion of the first freestanding chapel in the 120-year history of Agnes Scott College (Ga.). I reflected on months of watching from my office window as it went from nothing more than a hole in the ground to the beautiful building it is today.

In 2000, the University of Washington School of Medicine sought a project model to build new laboratory space beyond the traditional UW campus. Their goals were to construct a high quality lab building that provided space in alignment with the national reputation of the institution—and to provide that space quickly. To accomplish those goals, the school sought alternative, market rate financing outside of the lengthy six-year State of Washington capital development process and a sophisticated team to deliver it.

WHEN THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL Florida's enrollment explosion more than double the number of students since President John Hitt’s arrival in 1992, the institution’s 5,000-seat arena wasn’t cutting it anymore. The student head count at UCF’s main campus in Orlando is now up to around 43,000. But despite assurances of the sort we see in the movies, when administrators began planning for a new arena a few years ago they knew it wasn’t as simple as just getting the project going and everything would be fine. For starters, points out CFO William F.

DON'T WORRY IF YOU can’t express the difference between long-term planning and unified design on a campus. Even architects say they’re fuzzy on the difference.

LONG BEFORE ANY GROUND was broken on $60 million in renovation and new construction projects at Trine University (Ind.) some three years ago, officials at the school were building something far more important: relationships.

SOME MIGHT QUESTION THE need for libraries, with so much now available online. But campus libraries have evolved into much more than information storage facilities, says Joseph Rizzo, an architect for RMJM Hillier. “Libraries are becoming part of the broader academic and social mission.” Typical amenities now include quiet study spaces, meeting rooms, cafes, and even fireplaces.

IT'S BEEN MONTHS, EVEN years, of campaigning for your bond, but once election day is over you can rest, right? Wrong--that's when the real work begins.

THE RENOVATION OF THE MAIN BUILDING AT <b>WOFFORD College</b> in Spartanburg, S.C., was part construction project, part archeological adventure. "Old Main" dated back to the mid-1850s and had housed classes for every single Wofford student from then to the present.