Capital improvements that support academics take priority, ACUP told

Renovations, upgrades will help accommodate first wave of new faculty.

by Tracie Sweeney

Capital improvements, particularly those that support President Simmons’ Initiatives for Academic Enrichment, were discussed by the Advisory Committee on University Planning at its April 22 meeting.

Donald J. Reaves, executive vice president for finance and administration, offered the members a list of current, planned and potential projects. Several of the current projects – such as the new English department building on Brown Street and the Watson Institute for International Studies on Thayer Street – have been completed. Other projects under way include the Life Sciences Building, for which design work continues, a library storage facility, phase two of the Morriss-Champlin and Emery-Woolley dormitory renovations, renovations to Meehan Auditorium, and upgrades to more than 140,000 gross square feet of vacant space on campus to accommodate the first wave of about 40 faculty members to be hired during Fiscal Year 03 and Fiscal Year 04.

But before they arrive, the University needs to deal with an anticipated shortage in dormitory space this fall. This summer, the University will renovate Minden Hall, which it has owned since 1998, to provide more than 130 additional beds for Brown students, Reaves said. Previously, Brown leased the building to Johnson and Wales University.

The building may not remain dormitory space for long, Reaves said. Its location – on Angell Street between Brook and Hope streets – makes it attractive for other uses.

What to do with the University’s buildings, not just year by year or property by property but 25 years down the road, is a challenge the University must meet through comprehensive master planning, Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and the president’s senior advisor, told the ACUP members. “It’s pretty hard to escape the conclusion that we need to think about other space,” he said, whether it is for undergraduate and graduate housing, administrative offices, or parking. Brown is committed to beginning a comprehensive master planning process within “the next year or so,” Spies said. The master plan will be developed with faculty, staff, neighbors and the city, he said.

Any campus expansion is bound to reduce the number of parking spaces. ACUP members discussed options for a parking structure, which is categorized as one of the University’s planned projects. Three sites are under consideration: Pembroke Field, Lot 2 near the Athletic Center, and the Tockwotten property near the Radisson Hotel. The University has commissioned studies to examine traffic patterns and congestion at each site, “and the results are pointing us on opposite directions,” Reaves said.

He also noted that any “satellite” parking site “will change the culture here. … People will need to rethink the way they get to work.”

Some ACUP members asked about prospects for undergraduate and graduate student centers, graduate student housing, and space for non-varsity athletes.

Planning for the academic enterprise takes the highest priority for now, Spies responded. He reminded members that the focus for the next two years “is just the first stage of what President Simmons says is a multi-stage effort.”