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President Corrigan's ViewPointViewPoint by President Corrigan is published in First Monday for the faculty and staff at SFSU on the first Monday of the month during the fall and spring semesters by the Public Affairs and Publications offices. EXT 8-1665. pubcom@sfsu.edu |
I have used my last two Viewpoint columns to provide a report to the campus on our progress toward our key academic goals for the year. But no summary of the year’s activities would be complete without discussion of a quite different kind of creative enterprise—our campus construction program. We are reminded of it every time we pass by the Student Union, or note the empty space where Verducci once stood, or watch the earthmovers at work in the old corporatio n yard. Yet, visible as it is, I think our construction program is often not seen for what it is—a remarkable transformation of our campus into an ever-better teaching, learning, and living environment.
As anyone who has lived through a home remodeling project remembers vividly, transformation comes at the price of a certain amount of dislocation, of noise, dust, and inconvenience. It is easy to grow impatient, even at times resentful, in the midst of construction. A parking lot vanishes. Residence students find their days accompanied by all the noise of a building site. A walk across campus becomes a series of detours.
I think it is important, though, to pause for a broader view, to see where we have been, where we are going, and to recognize the quality-of-life enhancement these projects represent for us all.
Not since the original campus was built have we seen such a wave of new construction, remodeling, and upgrading as in the last half of this decade. In less than a decade we can point to these completed projects: the Humanities building, the student apartments, the Fine Arts building, the Burk Hall addition, seismic retrofits of the parking structure and the administration building; the construction of a wonderful new Children’s Center; a comprehensive replacement of our aging infrastructure; constructio n of a new central plant and corporation yard, and the resolution of the long-simmering Verducci Hall problem.
In less than 18 months from now, we will see a splendid new student housing and student services complex—the Village at Centennial Square—rise from the former Lot 8 and old corporation yard. We will reach a long-established goal: Providing a true one-stop center for student services, with expanded hours to match the complex schedules and lives of our students. We will share our students’ enjoyment of a greatly enhanced Student Center, with much-needed new meeting rooms and lounge space, an expanded book store, and a fine, 500-seat new Jack Adams Hall.
Can we then relax, having seen the last of construction for a while? No; some of our most critical construction projects in academic facilities lie ahead. Some time in the coming year, we expect to start on the seismic retrofits of Hensill Hall and the Psychology building. While we expect the work in Psychology to have little impact on the faculty and students in that building, during some part of the Hensill Hall work, we will need to relocate faculty and laboratories—a challenging project, for which w e are still considering several options.
Then, in a project that lies at the heart of our academic life, we will undertake the seismic work and renovation of the library. This will be financed from the next bond cycle, and design work will probably begin within two years. One very exciting feature of this project will be the construction of an automated retrieval tower, allowing us to handle the most rapidly growing collection in the CSU more efficiently.
The connection between all these projects and the goals we have set for ourselves—to be a user-friendly campus; to enhance our sense of community; to maintain and enhance our leadership in the educational use of technology; to provide excellent facilities for teaching and learning; to support the flexible delivery of instruction—is quite clear.
Also clear is the reality of the difficulties such projects make from time to time for the campus community. I think that the best way we can deal with these difficulties is to provide frank and full information to students, faculty, and staff about what to expect; to provide good, two-way channels of communication; and to take every opportunity, however modest, to minimize inconvenience. Hence, when a number of faculty described the difficulties they were facing after the closure of Lot 8, we increased faculty parking in Lot 20, as many of them had suggested.
There are other things we would like to do, but find that we cannot. All our construction projects are on a tight timetable, and if we halt or limit the hours of construction, we can no longer hold our contractors to their delivery date—utterly critical in such projects as the Village, where we are counting on August 2000 student occupancy. Thus, when we sought a construction pause during finals week, thinking of the nearby resident students’ needs, we learned that doing so would jeopardize the project. I mention these details to let you know that everyone involved with campus construction is aware of—and responsive to—the human, as well as physical, issues involved.
All in all, the campus has been remarkably positive-spirited and flexible throughout the campus "building boom" of the ’90s. I trust that we will continue in that spirit, knowing that every single project is designed to make campus life better in some way—friendlier, safer, more convenient, more supportive of academic excellence. Project by project, we are coming ever closer to creating the physical environment we need—and deserve.
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