UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 8, Page 1
October 20, 1994
Construction projects are right on schedule

     Construction is right on schedule for three major campus
projects-the new student center and parking garage on Main Street and
the addition to Colburn Laboratory on Academy Street.
     Work on the new parking garage is progressing, with the structure
taking shape as the last of the precast concrete panels are being put
in place and work on the floor slab concrete and surrounding masonry
wall continue.
     Excavation and foundation work continues on the student center,
and placement of masonry walls is progressing at the Colburn
Laboratory addition.
     Other campus construction recently completed includes:
        * Major work in Kent Dining Hall, including new rest rooms,
          painting, furniture, the addition of air conditioning and
          new kitchen and serving equipment, in addition to improved
          handicapped accessibility;
        * Total renovation of the top floor of the University
          Bookstore, with the addition of new ceiling and flooring,
          cherry wood shelving and paneling and a new floor plan;
        * Improved signs in the Perkins Student Center and a new
          ticket window, across from the bookstore entrance, where
          tickets to campus events can be purchased;
        * Upgrading of 130 Smith Hall to a high-tech classroom with
          hidden projectors-to accommodate CDs, videotapes, computer
          images and traditional projection equipment-comfortable
          seating, new paint and better lighting;
        * Landscaping in the front and on the sides of Willard Hall
          Education Building;
        * Complete interior and exterior renovation of the  front
          section of Evans Hall, to include new windows, heating,
          central air conditioning and a sprinkler system;
        * Heating and bathroom improvements in Brown Residence Hall;
        * Concrete repair and cleaning of the Christiana West Towers
          and Commons;
        * Replacement of the cabs and control system for Christiana
          West elevators, in effect making existing elevators operate
          more efficiently;
        * Concrete restoration in Pencader F;
        * Replacement of heating/air conditioning units in part of the
          Rodney Residence Hall Complex;
        * Improved and expanded women's locker facilities in Delaware
          Field House, a redesigned main lobby and improved lighting;
        * Renovation and new equipment for the kitchen in the Blue and
          Gold Club; and
        * Placement of pavers on sections of the Mall and at other
          sidewalk areas around campus.
     Other projects in progress include:
        * Construction of new offices, studios and classrooms
          throughout all the levels of Taylor Gym; and
        * Pointing and recapping of the brick wall surrounding the
          south end of campus near Park Place.
     Looking to the future, ground will probably be broken in the fall
of 1995 for the new business and economics building, currently under
architectural study and scheduled to be built on the corner of Amstel
Avenue and Orchard Road, with likely completion in the spring of 1997.
     Renovation of Recitation Hall and Recitation Annex will begin in
June.
     With the completion of Rooms 120 and 130 Smith Hall, Room 140,
which currently is used for weekend movies, will be upgraded.
     This will not be done until 1996, when a new theatre, to be
housed in the new student center, will accommodate many of the campus
film series and independent video presentations.
     According to David Hollowell, senior vice president, "We also are
looking at the Kirkbride lecture rooms, to upgrade them over the next
two to three years. We're at a point now where we have renovated
nearly all classrooms on campus during the last five years. And, we
now have regularly budgeted funds for continued classroom maintenance
and improvement. This is a dramatic change from what the situation was
like five years ago."
     In Lewes, there has been an expansion of facilities at the Virden
Conference Center, essentially doubling the size of the facility, and
an addition to Cannon Laboratory, as well as attention given to the
southern campus maintenance center. Renovations also have occurred on
the Wilmington campus at the Goodstay Center.
     "We will never run out of projects. There is no shortage of
things to do," Hollowell said. "The source of funding is the thing
that will be the issue. We've been fortunate, in the past, to have
both state assistance and important private support."
                                                         -Ed Okonowicz