To: Members of the University Community

From: Brice Wachterhauser, Ph.D. Provost

Date: December 15, 2005

Re: Maguire Campus Planning and Transition Team

The process for how best to use the space that the University would acquire with the purchase of Episcopal Academy began in 2001 when the prospect of purchasing this property first began to be seriously entertained. In July of 2002, a working group composed of Kevin Robinson, VP for Administrative Services, Dr. Dick Passon, Interim VP for Academic Affairs, Brice Wachterhauser, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, Robert Palestini, Dean of the University College and Graduate Arts and Sciences, and Gerry Donahue, Registrar, began to discuss usages for this property that were both plausible and affordable. Together, we took several tours of the facilities and began to discuss several options for usage, the result of which was the 2002 document produced by Dick Passon outlining the potential usage of EA. This document was used for internal, administrative purposes and became the point of departure for subsequent planning.

Subsequent to the signing of an agreement to acquire the EA Campus in August of 2005, Father Lannon appointed the Maguire Campus Planning and Transition Team and named additional faculty, staff and student representatives to the team. The charge of the group is to provide data and analysis for zoning and planning, create timetables, design workgroups, analyze and determine space usage. The committee will integrate as needed with Institutional Planning and Budget Advisory Committees and involve constituencies for a smooth transition. Eventually they will plan events to maximize the unique opportunity to celebrate success and anticipate the future. Throughout the process the team will provide communication to the University community on a regular basis.

Way of Proceeding

Ideal solutions as to how best to use the Maguire Campus will be difficult to achieve and compromises will be necessary. A reasonable solution will be one which is affordable and meets as many of the criteria and desired goals as possible. To achieve that end, the committee will discuss each proposed use of both the Maguire campus and the space vacated by the move to Maguire. Departments affected by such moves will be consulted. Consensus on best uses will be sought within the committee, and the general agreement of the committee will be deemed sufficient to decide disputed cases. With the help of Jim Cornwall, our architectural consultant, reasonable cost estimates will be developed by January 1, 2006 and the overall budget will be evaluated by the committee with the help of Lou Mayer, CFO. The proposed uses and costs will be discussed by Cabinet, IPC and finally approved by the Board of Trustees by May, 2006. Determining a budget as soon as possible is necessary, not only to develop a schedule of planned saving to fund the transition, but also because such a budget will provide an important limit and constraint on other projects on the existing campus.

Goals and Needs

The Transition Team work is based on the assumption that there are several desired outcomes which we will attempt to achieve. The first desideratum would be that in order to minimize renovation costs, we will use buildings on the Maguire Campus, to the extent possible, in ways analogous to their current use. Thus, priority will be given to proposed uses that parallel current uses of EA. (This general strategy was also reinforced by zoning regulations which favor analogous use and limit the extent to which the existing buildings on the Maguire Campus may be used for administrative purposes.) The second goal would be that we provide adequate square footage for all functions that will occupy the Maguire Campus. Adequate square footage will be determined by analysis of programmatic need and projected growth. At a minimum, departments can expect space analogous to or slightly better than current space. Moreover, in determining what is adequate for a given function, reasonable growth rates projected five years beyond the hoped-for acquisition date of 2008 should be assumed. Attention should also be paid to investments in the current SJU infrastructure; wherever possible, decisions should be made that maintain these improvements in their current locations. Lastly, Mandeville Hall was deemed adequate for the current needs of the Haub School of Business. However, Mandeville Hall is rapidly approaching its capacity. Accordingly, HSB may need to occupy some of the space vacated in the move to the Maguire Campus.

With respect to technology, the goal is that the Maguire Campus should, if possible, be equipped with information technology analogous to the existing Arts & Sciences buildings of Barbelin, Science Center, Post and Bellarmine. In addition, we should provide the necessary computer labs to the Maguire Campus, and, to the extent possible, these computer labs should not be dedicated to individual departments, but rather be available for use by multiple departments.

Within these broad guidelines, the move to Maguire should also help us to solve certain long-standing space needs. Those needs include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide every academic department sufficient room to grow the faculty to keep up with current student enrollment and emerging programmatic needs.
• New classroom spaces are needed to support the work of academic programs, such as writing-centered instruction and lab-based instruction for non-science majors.
• Fine Arts is crowded in Boland Hall to a degree exceeding other departments.
• Science needs room to expand to achieve University full-time coverage goals.
• The University needs adequate gallery space if our commitment to the visual arts is to be appropriately supported.
• Whenever possible, departments should be given contiguous office space.
• Student Educational Support Services should be moved from the Science Center to improved, contiguous space.
• Counseling and Health Services should be housed together and more centrally located on campus.
• Career Development should be located in a more centralized space near high student traffic.
• Development Office needs to move on campus.
• Other administrative functions will soon outgrow their existing spaces.
• HSB will potentially outgrow its space in Mandeville.
• Provide adequate space and visibility for the expanding role of institutes and centers within the University.

Main Classroom Building

In the summer of 2005 decisions were made about which academic departments would actually move to the new campus. In addition to the general guidelines of “analogous use,” the decision also proceeded from the observation that every major academic building has outstanding space needs. By moving at least one department from Post, Barbelin and Bellarmine, space needs will be addressed both by providing improved space on the Maguire Campus and by vacating space that can be reallocated to meet the needs of departments not slated to be moved. In this way both existing and anticipated needs can be addressed. In the Science Center, those space needs would be addressed by moving Student Educational Support Services out of the building, hopefully to a location on the Maguire Campus. Thus the science departments would achieve a long-standing need to have a building dedicated wholly to science. Education will be moved from the Barbelin building to the second floor of the main classroom building on the Maguire Campus. This decision was made in order to give Education contiguous office space which they do not currently have, and to provide them room for expansion which they greatly need in order to meet NCATE accreditation standards. Because of its relatively large size and anticipated growth needs, it was proposed that the English department move from the Bellarmine building to the first floor of the main classroom building on the Maguire Campus, thus creating a large amount of open space in Bellarmine. Moreover, our investment in the infrastructure of the writing lab was minimal compared to the investment of infrastructure in the language labs of Foreign Languages, and the Writing Lab itself is currently too small to meet growing needs. In Post Hall, the Sociology Department was slated to move to the new campus, because it is a relatively large department and, again, the level of infrastructure invested in Sociology was relatively low in comparison to the investment in Psychology. In moving these departments, we should see a net gain in the space dedicated to academics, but in order to meet some of the other needs outlined above, a portion of the space vacated may have to be rededicated to non-academic use.

Science Building

The department chairs in the sciences have toured the science building on the Maguire Campus. Renovating the labs for use by non-science majors is being considered, but will be contingent on both cost and curricular revision.

Athletic Facilities
For the most part, the Maguire Campus facilities dedicated to athletics will be used by Saint Joseph’s in analogous ways by Recreation programs. In addition, Baseball and other sports will be able to play on campus. In some cases, the fields will require excavation to meet intercollegiate standards, and cost estimates are being developed.

Other Issues

Additional considerations will be given to:

• Scheduling and timing of classes
• Safety and pedestrian traffic
• Handicapped accessibility
• Additional common meeting and gathering space

As other issues emerge, this list will be expanded. Where needed, experts outside the University will be consulted.

Next Steps

The next phase of work will focus on the potential usage of the large office buildings and houses on the Maguire Campus, matching the square footage of the space with the programmatic needs identified above.