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Academic Centers for Athletes Draw Donors
More than a dozen university athletics programs have added lavish new facilities in recent years, and academic-services budgets are soaring, a Chronicle survey finds. (Photograph courtesy of Texas A&M U.)
College Employees Value Campus Environment, 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.
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)
Other News
After Hurricane Gustav, Campuses Clean Up
Cleanup crews scoured Gulf Coast campuses, removing downed limbs and repairing broken windows, while students and staff members forced out by Hurricane Gustav waited for word that they could return.
Lessons From Katrina Improve Colleges' Evacuations for Hurricane Gustav
College officials across the Gulf Coast were cautiously relieved when initial reports suggested the damage wasn't severe.
College of Southern Idaho Cafeteria Goes 'Tray-Less'
Students are also wasting less food because they no longer have the option of overloading their cafeteria trays, says the college's food-services director.
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.
Postcard From Emory U: a Walk in the Preserved Woods
Atlanta — A visit to Emory University here began with decompression. Eloise Carter, a professor of biology, led me on a stroll through the woods — specifically the Hahn Woods, an area of forest where botanists like Ms. Carter are trying to coax and encourage native plant species, like jack-in-the-pulpit, wild ginseng, bloodroot, and some varieties of magnolia. She and her colleagues are also trying to figure out how to stop invasive plants — like ivies and other varieties of magnolia.
More than 50 percent of Emory’s 700 acres has been set aside as preserved forest, an anomaly in a region that is normally known for rampant sprawl. Ciannat Howett, director of sustainability here, says that Emory’s forested areas, which includes some old-growth trees, have biodiversity that is a rich ground for research.
The forest’s closest kin as a cove hardwood forest can be found in Southeast Asia, and researchers from there often come here to study, she says. Preservation of the land started decades ago, but it was formally set aside in 2004. Only in recent years did Emory realize what a treasure it had.
“The point there is that you don’t know what you have sometimes,” Ms. Howett says. “Had we built on it, we wouldn’t have even known what we had lost.”
The preservation of this land also presents challenges to a growing university. Emory makes it a policy to build only on land that has been disturbed, which sometimes means building higher and building smaller. Ms. Howett hopes that policy is an inspiration for the broader community.
“When you are in an area like Atlanta, where the conventional approach is sprawl,” she says, “building more efficiently is very new and can be a model for development.”
Scott Carlson | Monday May 19, 2008 | Permalink | Contact usComments
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Love walking thru Emory by the lake,creek, and Hahn Woods. One can find only peace there!!!
— Rose Schisler May 20, 12:25 PM #
I grew up at Emory and as a child spent many days around Lullwater lake. It is wonderful to go back after 45 years and see very little change.
— bob walker May 20, 12:39 PM #