A semester at SMU wouldn’t be complete without walks past chain-link fences, orange and white barricades, and construction trailers. With a student enrollment growing every year, the university is constantly working to expand its capacity.
The university exceeded all expectations last spring when it wrapped up a five-year capital campaign that raised over $534 million. Part of that money will go to fund the construction of several buildings across campus.
“The tremendous support we are receiving shows that SMU constituents and the community strongly endorse the university’s mission and place of importance in higher education,” said Ruth Altshuler, chair of the board of trustees and campaign co-chair. “Our momentum has never been greater.”
And that momentum hasn’t slowed at all during the summer months. This summer there are over seven major construction projects changing the face of the campus and it’s capabilities.
Laura Lee Blanton Student Services Building.
Construction on this $13 million project is slated to begin in mid-July. The four-story, 63,000 sq. ft. building, named after former SMU trustee Laura Lee Blanton will be the new home of the university’s Division of Enrollment Services, which is currently housed in the Perkins Administration Building. The building’s other future tenants include the Office of Information Technology Services, the International Office, and SMU-in-Taos.
As university planners shift the main entrance to the campus from Mockingbird Lane to SMU Boulevard on the campus’ east side, the Blanton building will serve as the centerpiece to a prospective student’s first visit to SMU.
The building is expected to open in fall 2003.
Jerry R. Junkins Electrical Engineering Building.
Anyone headed past the Airline parking garage in the past seven months has noticed the progress made on the $14.6 million Junkins Building, named after former Texas Instruments CEO and SMU trustee Jerry R. Junkins.
Located at the southwest corner of Dyer and Airline, the four-story, 50,000 sq. ft. building will house classrooms, faculty and graduate student offices, and instructional and research laboratories. It will also include new facilities for a wireless communications lab, a multimedia communications lab, and a semiconductor and optoelectronics lab.
The construction will wrap up any day now and the building will see it’s first classes in the fall.
In the meantime, you can check up on the building’s progress from a live web cam at www.engr.smu.edu/co/cams/junkinscam.html.
Meadows Museum Fountain Sculpture
Santiago Calatrava, whose architecture formed the basis for the inaugural exhibit at the Meadows Museum, will design “Wave,” a 40-by-80 ft. fountain in the museum’s plaza.
The fountain will consist of a large pool of water with rocking steel arms running its length. The arms will sequentially transfer water from one end of the pool to the other forming a continuous wave.
Noted for his combining of fluid, aerial forms with strongly functional structures, Calatrava is best known for his bridges, railway stations and airport designs. His recent works include the new extension to the Milwaukee Arts Museum, the Planetarium of the Valencia Science Center in Spain, and the Lyon Airport Railway Station in France.
We are honored and delighted to have Meadows Museum one of the first large-scale works by Santiago Calatrava to be completed in the United States,” said John Lunsford, the museum’s director when work commenced on the fountain in April of this year.
The project is slated for completion in October
The Belo Digital Television Studio and Newsroom.
In what foundation chair Burl Osborne called the largest gift ever given by the Belo Foundation, the Dallas-based foundation, which owns WFAA and The Dallas Morning News, gave SMU $5 million to enhance the university’s journalism department.
“Given the importance of the information age in today’s society, students, faculty, and the media industry in general and our community will all benefit from the advantages of a greatly enriched curriculum,” said Ward L. Huey Jr., SMU trustee and Belo Foundation board member.
The foundation and SMU’s journalism department hope the newsroom will go a long way toward extending the department’s curriculum. Eventually, both parties hope that the studio will produce local news and feature programming for distribution by television, radio, the Internet, and print.
Located in the Umphrey-Lee Center, at the former site of the SMU Bookstore, the project is expected to be complete this fall.
Hegi Family Career Center Expansion
After the Side Pocket game room moved across the commons in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, the Hegi family, the SMU 2002 senior class, and the Career Center set their eyes on the hole that it left.
Renovation of the Career Center, which began June 10, was funded as part of the class of 2002’s $25,000 senior class gift.
“I was very excited about having the senior class choose us for their gift,” said center director, Jerry Alexander
The Hegi family, after which the expansion is named, matched the contributions of the seniors.
The expansion will include a conference room as well as six interview rooms to be used by students and potential employers. The project is expected to wrap up at the end of July.
Dedman Life Sciences Pedestrian Mall.
Landscapers and bricklayers are already hard at work on a pedestrian mall planned on the east side of the Dedman Life Sciences Building. The project includes the lying of paving stones, tree plantings, and other landscaping.
Once the walkway is completed at the end of the summer, the daunting walk to that chemistry lab will be a little bit more cheerful.
McFarlin Auditorium Renovation.
None of these building and renovation projects would have been possible without the support of the major donors to the university’s capital campaign. And a large-scale renovation to McFarlin Auditorium will recognize them and modernize the lobby. While the work continues until mid-August, the auditorium will be closed to all events.
So while those little orange and white stripes can spell delays, detours and frustration, keep in mind that they are merely signs of great things to come.
