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College Employees Value Campus Environment, 'Chronicle' Survey Finds
When a Chronicle survey asked college employees what they value about their jobs, they put the physical environment in which they work at the top of the list. (Chronicle photograph of Washington & Lee U.)
Rise in Tornadoes, Floods Poses Risk to Colleges
What if the sort of extreme weather that has left the University of Iowa inundated in floodwaters is not a freak event? What if it is a sign of things to come? (Photograph by AP Images)
Art & Architecture Renovations Near Completion at Yale U.
Paul Rudolph's 1963 Brutalist icon is getting a makeover, plus an addition by Charles Gwathmey.
Guest Blogger: Marc Mayerson
Like swashbuckling movie heroes, facilities planners take on herculean tasks.
Other News
Campus Planners Discuss Challenges in Attaining Sustainability
Analyzing How Students Choose Colleges Is Key Topic at Meeting of Planners
Specialized Developers Helping More Colleges to Meet Housing Needs
New campus buildings
Multimedia
A Green Building as a Billboard for Science
(A 2006 Chronicle video)
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About Buildings & Grounds
Buildings & Grounds is written by Scott Carlson (left) and Lawrence Biemiller (right). Scott Carlson writes about architecture, facilties, energy, and sustainability, among other topics. Lawrence Biemiller writes about architecture and facilities and contributes to Notes from Academe. What's happening on your campus? Let us know.
Virginia Tech Announces a New Life for Norris Hall
Officials of Virginia Tech held a news conference this afternoon to announce their plans for Norris Hall, site of the shooting rampage in April.
The 70,000-square-foot building, which houses the department of engineering science and mechanics, had been a major research facility. After the shootings, the university said classes would never be held in Norris again; some people on the campus wondered whether the building should be renovated or even razed, or become the site of a memorial.
Norris will not be razed, but it will change. Charles W. Steger, president of the university, and Mark G. McNamee, the provost, said the plans combine a set of proposals that have been under consideration for several months.
Norris is to house a new Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, a place for students and scholars to study violence in society. A minor in the discipline would be established, according to the proposal submitted to Mr. McNamee.
The department of engineering science and mechanics would also vacate space in nearby Burruss Hall and consolidate the department in Norris. Officials saw this as an ideal way to re-energize the department, in part through supporting more student projects in the building. Students in the department have been scattered all over the campus.
The space vacated in Burruss would go to the Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships, which will encourage students to get involved in the community around the university.
The renovations associated with the plans would cost $1-million.
In an interview, Mr. McNamee said the announcement about the future of Norris Hall is essentially the last step in the university’s response to the shootings. A permanent memorial, based on the Hokie Stones that were set up on the campus right after the shootings, was dedicated in August, next to Norris.
“We feel like we are taking a final step in bringing that building back to life,” the provost said.
In the days after the massacre, people discussed tearing down the building. But Mr. McNamee believes that the decision to keep it and continue using it has helped Virginia Tech.
“It has been part of the healing process to use that building productively,” he said. “We are actually moving beyond and thinking of the future much more quickly than we might if people watched that building being torn down and sitting empty as a vacant lot.”
Scott Carlson | Thursday December 20, 2007 | Permalink | Contact us
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