...change of address forms, perhaps letterhead or update websites, the official name and address of the building is as follows:
New years is all about celebrations, perhaps a libation or two, and a leaving last year behind. One tradition my family and friends have is at midnight we burn the past year's calendar. As the ashes waft away we let go of the worries, appointments, angst and bad mojo from the past year. It's also a chance to chuckle over the annual Dad's camping trip, summer vacation in Door County with dear, dear friends and remind my husband this year we will be married 21 years. It is our way of making a new start each year.
Dean Douthitt by the board of visitors in 2004 to mark the Centennial and start the public phase of the building campaign. For more than seven years Robin has been toting this shovel to meetings and events, gathering signatures from donors, friends and allies. It reads like a "who's who." The initial thought was the shovel should be used at groundbreaking but there were more friends who had to sign it with inspiring wishes - it was hard to stop the momentum.
lay sod and push forward on the landscape plans. Take a look at this photo taken yesterday-no this isn't air-brushed, this is real.
The Dean of Continuing Studies, Jeff Russell, joined Dean Douthitt for a behind the scenes tour of the new building. Dean Russell (in the red hardhat) is a faculty member in the College of Engineering, who have been superb hosts while Human Ecology is in relocation.
Over the past year all of our stakeholders have talked a great deal about the overall timeline and specific schedules needed for project completion—construction schedule, relocation schedule, schedule for furniture, and others. Along with team members Roberto Rengel and Rose Barroilhet, I attend the bi-weekly construction progress meetings so we can keep Human Ecology-specific deliverables on task and coordinate with JP Cullen. At these meetings schedule details are hammered out with the contractor for testing and balancing, when the building is to be cleaned, coordination with campus for fiber optics, and so on.
A major milestone is "substantial completion," the point in the project where the state (remember it's the state, not the campus, that holds the contract) in consultation with the campus, determines that the contractor is just about —but not quite—finished. The architect and campus develop a "punch list" of items that the contractor is still required to complete, but the progress of preparing to occupy the building may continue to move forward.
The time from substantial completion until the start of furniture delivery is busy and many tasks are executed. The internal systems (heating, ventilating, etc.) are tested and balanced, punch list items and technology interface with equipment continues, and many, many more details are confirmed. Furniture delivery—a massive undertaking coordinated and led by campus—won't begin until after this period of testing is complete. And having seen the draft schedule for furniture delivery and installation, I can verify this is a complex plan involving access to the Human Ecology loading dock, coordinating which vendors have access to the building elevators and for how long, and when the semi-trucks are allowed on campus.
The bottom line? The academic departments (CS, DS, HDFS, and IS) will be the first to move into the new building starting May 21, 2012, which means faculty, instructional spaces and the departments must be packed and ready to go.
The balance of Human Ecology units including Centers, administration and projects will immediately follow - keep checking this blog for information and updates.