New academic building

[okinawatyphoon]

I went by the site this afternoon, and some construction equipment has arrived.

[okinawatyphoon]

I took this photo yesterday from the second floor of the Christopher Center. The site is fully under construction, and you can see the foundation is coming along well.

[78crusader]

Okinawa --

Any word on the new welcome center? Can you share any info on the next construction project on the boards? And...any word on a new track?

Paul

[okinawatyphoon]

Nope, no word Paul. The longer the track takes, the less hope I have. I think the university is really shooting itself in the foot by putting that project off any longer.

[vufan75]

I'm all for and understand the need to prioritize capital projects. We do need new academic buildings, a dorm, a welcome center, etc. so as to be able to compete better for the type of students we are targeting.

I am not privy to the newly revised strategic or master plan for campus. But, what I guess I don't understand is why the new proposed track seems to keep getting postponed, while we go ahead with other projects within athletics. For example, and let me say I admire and respect the softball program a lot and all they have accomplished these last few years. But, my question is why are we upgrading the softball facility and yet continue to hold off on the track? I'm sure there are good reasons, it just seems a bit odd that we have funds for one athletic project where we have a relatively new facility, and no funds for another athletic project to be built where we have no current usable facility.

I am curious as to what are and in what order of ranking are the next athletic facility "upgrades" or "build from scratch" if appropriate. Maybe waiting for the hospital to close and relocate, and any potential property acquisition of that site is something that affects plans.

Maybe one of the message board posters knows more detail, or can direct an interested party to the newly updated campus master plan on the university website which might answer some questions? If so thanks!

[okinawatyphoon]

I too am hoping for an updated Master Plan, but this is probably still (at least) a few months off. This past November, a new firm was selected to create a master plan for the university. Here's a link to the story about it:
www.valpo.edu/news/news.php?releaseId=4589

Other than that, I am curious about the priority of the track as well. I don't see how something that benefits so many students continues to be put off. While the softball field upgrade is important and definitely needed, those improvements really only benefit one program: softball. A new track would benefit many more sports in addition to the track team, and would free up space in the ARC. In addition, certain organizations such as ROTC would benefit from the track.

[redheadbed]

Back in early September 2010, there was mention on this board about Valpo building a Erik G. Hromadka Center for Entrepreneurial Studies near where Dau Hall used to stand.

Update?

[vu72]

Jan 26, 2011 17:04:21 GMT -5 redheadbed said:

Back in early September 2010, there was mention on this board about Valpo building a Erik G. Hromadka Center for Entrepreneurial Studies near where Dau Hall used to stand.

Update?

You mean where the brand new student excercise center is located? If there was to be some sort of new Center as you describe, logically it would be attached to the business school.

[vu72]

Jan 26, 2011 16:19:22 GMT -5 okinawatyphoon said:

I too am hoping for an updated Master Plan, but this is probably still (at least) a few months off. This past November, a new firm was selected to create a master plan for the university. Here's a link to the story about it:
www.valpo.edu/news/news.php?releaseId=4589

Other than that, I am curious about the priority of the track as well. I don't see how something that benefits so many students continues to be put off. While the softball field upgrade is important and definitely needed, those improvements really only benefit one program: softball. A new track would benefit many more sports in addition to the track team, and would free up space in the ARC. In addition, certain organizations such as ROTC would benefit from the track.

I also have no knowledge of plans for the athletic departments. I do know that the University intends on buying the hospital site but only after it is torn down and any environmental issues are resolved. That could take a few years.
As for why an improvement to softball and not a track, I believe the answer lies in donors. Again, with no specific knowledge, my guess is that people have put up money for the softball improvements and we still don't have a champion for the track. The improvements to softball also don't cost anywhere near what a track would cost and they can't do a track one lane at a time, or as funds permit. The softball field was mostly improved but now have some finishing touches which may have just not been done because funds ran out. Just guesses on my part.

[fredskinner]

Jan 26, 2011 17:04:21 GMT -5 redheadbed said:

Back in early September 2010, there was mention on this board about Valpo building a Erik G. Hromadka Center for Entrepreneurial Studies near where Dau Hall used to stand.

Update?

[fredskinner]

You have to donate big money to get your name on a building, neighbor. Either that or getting killed doing something for humanity.

[agibson]

Jan 26, 2011 18:45:51 GMT -5 vu72 said:

As for why an improvement to softball and not a track, I believe the answer lies in donors. Again, with no specific knowledge, my guess is that people have put up money for the softball improvements and we still don't have a champion for the track.

Yeah, that was my thought also. Maybe we've even heard that explicitly stated re the track?

[okinawatyphoon]

A little off topic, but I thought this was valuable to share concerning the track. I found this site plan (probably a year or two old) which shows how the track would look with the new field and other renovations. You can clearly see how much space it takes up, which explains why the stands are so far away from the field.

[redheadbed]

Jan 26, 2011 22:22:48 GMT -5 okinawatyphoon said:

A little off topic, but I thought this was valuable to share concerning the track. I found this site plan (probably a year or two old) which shows how the track would look with the new field and other renovations. You can clearly see how much space it takes up, which explains why the stands are so far away from the field.

I would have loved seeing 80s VU track legends Chris Sloan and Barry Acton race 5000 meters in their prime on that track.

[vufan75]

Jan 26, 2011 16:19:22 GMT -5 okinawatyphoon said:

I too am hoping for an updated Master Plan, but this is probably still (at least) a few months off. This past November, a new firm was selected to create a master plan for the university. Here's a link to the story about it:
www.valpo.edu/news/news.php?releaseId=4589

Other than that, I am curious about the priority of the track as well. I don't see how something that benefits so many students continues to be put off. While the softball field upgrade is important and definitely needed, those improvements really only benefit one program: softball. A new track would benefit many more sports in addition to the track team, and would free up space in the ARC. In addition, certain organizations such as ROTC would benefit from the track.

Interesting info on other potential uses for a track, okinawatyphoon. Hadn't even thought of those other than track itself. I guess my confusion stems from the FITT initiative. When I contributed, I presumed that I was supporting the whole FITT initiative, and that all the FITT targeted program elements to be constructed would be built from the funds raised. It happened for football, intra-murals (I think) and tennis. I guess the track portion on hold will get done someday. I think originally high oil prices caused the track cost to escalate, but, that hasn't changed much and may get worse in the future.