Classroom | Kulbir Jhinjer | feat. Desi Crew | Punjabi Songs | 2013
Provost Jonathan Wickert sat down with the Iowa State Daily on Friday afternoon to discuss goals, initiatives and recent news from the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost. One of the topics discussed was recent and future classroom renovations on campus.
In order to accommodate continued growth in student enrollment, his office has taken a series of steps to improve classrooms on campus.
The first step was to use the full capacity of current spaces, using them as responsibly and efficiently as possible, Wickert said. He and his office use data to look at how classrooms are being used throughout the course of the day, focusing on both the instructional periods of the day and time outside of those periods, such as in the evenings when the classrooms are often used for study groups, clubs and lectures.
Being conscious about space usage has allowed the school to become more efficient over the last eight years.
"We are [now] using our existing classrooms about as efficiently as we can," Wickert said.
The second step was to be systematic about renovating and improving current classrooms.
About two years ago, an initiative was implemented on campus called the "Classroom Improvement Initiative." To start this initiative, an external architect graded all 214 of the centrally controlled classrooms on campus based on the quality of the space, the ventilation, the technology, the seating, etc., and gave advice on how to use the spaces better.
"We looked at all those classrooms and prioritized some projects, so every year we"re going to work on the highest priority projects and improve the quality of these classrooms," Wickert said.
Pearson Hall is the first building in this series that will see renovations.
An example of one of these major renovations is Marston Hall, home of the College of Engineering.
This summer, the 110-year-old building named after Anson Marston, the first dean of the College of Engineering, went through a complete renovation process.
The building is rich in ISU history, but its outdated infrastructure had started causing tangible facility issues, and the overall design of the building was not meeting the needs of students with student growth and changes in technology.
"[We said], lets keep the historic part of the building, which is wonderful. We want to keep that feel, but we want to update it," Wickert said. "Make it a more modern kind of place that you would want for a college of engineering."
During the renovation process, construction crews completely gutted the entire inside of the building, and removed all of the walls on the inside of the building to put in two new elevators, move the stairwells, etc.
"Saying renovation is almost not doing the project full credit," Wickert said.
The new design highlights improved offices, added classroom capacity, increased technology capabilities and more.
"What we"ve accomplished with [this renovation] is to make it a more student-focused kind of building," Wickert said.
The construction on the hall was finished this summer, and an official rededication of the building will be on Sept. 29.
The last step in accommodating student growth that Wickert discussed is constructing new buildings.
A large addition to Bessey Hall is being added this fall, and a new teaching/research building for the biosciences programs is being constructed near the horse barn on campus. These projects are supported by state appropriations and private funds and will add classrooms, office space and more.
Construction for a new Student Innovation Center, a more than 100,000-square-foot four-story building, will begin this winter, starting with the demolition of a few buildings on campus. The new center will be located between the College of Engineering and the College of Design on Central Campus, Wickert said.
The combination of these steps using space efficiently, doing renovations and building new facilities mixed with new, improved teaching methods has allowed Iowa State to better accommodate the growing number of enrolled students.
Source: http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/academics/article_8da9b7a8-679b-11e6-899c-c7a440aef07b.html
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