University of Arkansas Projects

[Snaple4]

Thank you for the pictures. They have made quick progress on the KUAF, Garland Parking Deck, and the Nano building. I also would like more density with any new buildings but considering this building is being built on a parking lot doesn't make me so sad. It is when they start to build on green space when having less density in this building will I become upset. In anycase, lower density means lower insurance costs...

[Mith242]

Yeah thanks for the pics. Once again I never got around to trying to get out myself to take any pics. I've been wondering how things were coming at some of these U of A projects.

[zman9810]

Here's an updated photo of the NanoTech building.

[Mith242]

Here's an updated photo of the NanoTech building.

Cool, thanks.

[thewizard16]

Thanks for the updated pictures Zman. I don't get to that side of the University too often, but it looks like it and the new parking garage/retail have been flying along. I wish the renderings for Nanotech gave me more optimism about it's final look, but as long as it blends in with the Engineering buildings and isn't hideous, I guess it'll be okay. I just thought they should have built something especially nice looking there since it'll be one of the very first buildings you see when you enter campus on Dickson.

[Mith242]

It's not really development news but I thought I'd post it anyway. The U of A has set up a dual degree program with Fort Valley State University in Georgia. Students will spend three years in Georgia then two more at the U of A to get a dual degree in geosciences. I don't know if this is particularly common. But what seems to really make this stand out is that the U of A is trying to use this to help drive up diversity on campus. Fort Valley State is historically black college.

On a second note the U of A has also officially announced that the Dalai Lama will speak at the U of A next year in 2011. It will be his first trip to Arkansas. It may not seem like a big deal to most, especially those who don't practice Tibetan Buddhism. But I really think this is one of the biggest speakers to speak here. Especially outside the political arena. We all know Bill Clinton has had ties here and stopped by. None the less the Dalai Lama is recognized worldwide (except China of course) as one of the world's top humanitarians and of course he's also a very important spiritual leader as well.

[thewizard16]

It's not really development news but I thought I'd post it anyway. The U of A has set up a dual degree program with Fort Valley State University in Georgia. Students will spend three years in Georgia then two more at the U of A to get a dual degree in geosciences. I don't know if this is particularly common. But what seems to really make this stand out is that the U of A is trying to use this to help drive up diversity on campus. Fort Valley State is historically black college.

On a second note the U of A has also officially announced that the Dalai Lama will speak at the U of A next year in 2011. It will be his first trip to Arkansas. It may not seem like a big deal to most, especially those who don't practice Tibetan Buddhism. But I really think this is one of the biggest speakers to speak here. Especially outside the political arena. We all know Bill Clinton has had ties here and stopped by. None the less the Dalai Lama is recognized worldwide (except China of course) as one of the world's top humanitarians and of course he's also a very important spiritual leader as well.

We're all very excited by this. The UofA has done a very good job in recent years at bringing significant speakers through (Bush Sr., Martin Luther King III, Anderson Cooper, Magic Johnson, Ehud Olmert, etc.) but the Dalai Lama is one of the most important humanitarian figures in the world. (also, it's someone virtually every university wants to speak there but he doesn't visit many places, so it's nice that the UofA and our area got his attention over so many others).

In other news, the new parking deck and nanotech buildings are coming along nicely. If I had a camera on me I'd have gotten some updated pictures for you all today.

[aerotive]

Is there much talk on campus about the changed/lowered curriculum requirements at Fulbright? Would've loved to only have to take college algebra, and not finite math...but not at the expense of having the university's reputation cheapened.

Story about it here:

http://thecabin.net/news/2010-05-03/u-ark-officials-defend-requirements-reduction

[Mith242]

Is there much talk on campus about the changed/lowered curriculum requirements at Fulbright? Would've loved to only have to take college algebra, and not finite math...but not at the expense of having the university's reputation cheapened.

Story about it here:

http://thecabin.net/news/2010-05-03/u-ark-officials-defend-requirements-reduction

I've been wondering about that as well. Maybe I could see a bit of a drop but this seems like a pretty big drop. I really don't think this is where I'd like the see the U of A go. I've wondered what brought all of this about.

[akahogfan]

Is there much talk on campus about the changed/lowered curriculum requirements at Fulbright? Would've loved to only have to take college algebra, and not finite math...but not at the expense of having the university's reputation cheapened.

Story about it here:

http://thecabin.net/...ments-reduction

There has not been a lot of talk about it, and not many students know. I had heard a rumor that the language requirement was being lowered, but had to confirm it with my advisor and she seemed a bit reluctant to give that information.

Overall, I agree with the changes that they are making. It allows specific programs to have more say in what their students need to take. For example, as a History major, I still have to take two years of any foreign language, but I won't have to take as much math (well, future students won't. I used to be in engineering, so I am all mathed out). Also, they are not reducing the amount of work that is required to graduate, just changing where that work must be done. I just wish that this had all happened two years ago.

Ultimately, this is what universities in Europe do. They have very specific requirements in one's area of study, and they don't require much else. I think that this should help increase the quality of some gen-ed classes, e.g. world civilization, as professors can teach it as a regular history class instead of as a summary course. Students who want to take it as an elective should get a better experience and better class.

edit:

Also, because I was curious, I started to look up the general requirements at other universities. There are many that have enacted a similar program, including Harvard, USC, Stanford, Florida, Michigan, etc. Every university that I looked at had recently (>5 years) changed their general requirements in a similar manner. I would say that there is a pretty good precedent for this move.

[Mith242]

There has not been a lot of talk about it, and not many students know. I had heard a rumor that the language requirement was being lowered, but had to confirm it with my advisor and she seemed a bit reluctant to give that information.

Overall, I agree with the changes that they are making. It allows specific programs to have more say in what their students need to take. For example, as a History major, I still have to take two years of any foreign language, but I won't have to take as much math (well, future students won't. I used to be in engineering, so I am all mathed out). Also, they are not reducing the amount of work that is required to graduate, just changing where that work must be done. I just wish that this had all happened two years ago.

Ultimately, this is what universities in Europe do. They have very specific requirements in one's area of study, and they don't require much else. I think that this should help increase the quality of some gen-ed classes, e.g. world civilization, as professors can teach it as a regular history class instead of as a summary course. Students who want to take it as an elective should get a better experience and better class.

edit:

Also, because I was curious, I started to look up the general requirements at other universities. There are many that have enacted a similar program, including Harvard, USC, Stanford, Florida, Michigan, etc. Every university that I looked at had recently (>5 years) changed their general requirements in a similar manner. I would say that there is a pretty good precedent for this move.

Thanks for that info. That really helps shed a new light on all of this.

[aerotive]

Cool, nice to know for me too. At first blush it looked like a significant dumbing-down.

[thewizard16]

Is there much talk on campus about the changed/lowered curriculum requirements at Fulbright? Would've loved to only have to take college algebra, and not finite math...but not at the expense of having the university's reputation cheapened.

Story about it here:

http://thecabin.net/news/2010-05-03/u-ark-officials-defend-requirements-reduction

I don't understand why they didn't announce the real reason (other than politics) for this change when they sent out the press release about the core reduction. Due to Arkansas ACT 182 of 2009, which was designed to make transferring from community colleges to 4-year colleges easier, the University would no longer be able (as of this year) to require transfer students with an associates of arts or science degree from a 2-year school to take any extra classes as part of a "core" requirement. Here's a line from a recent article describing the act " four-year public institutions of higher education in Arkansas are required to accept all hours completed and credits earned upon a student's transfer to a baccalaureate degree program and admit the transfer student with junior status.". This was going to mean that anyone having completed those degrees couldn't be forced to take freshman or sophomore classes, and our Fulbright core requires higher levels of several classes than most associates programs. This was going to put our students at a disadvantage when compared to transfer students since they'd have to take more, and higher level, classes to reach junior status than transfers from community colleges. So, we cut the core down to reflect the same level of education as an associates program. We are not cutting hours, or foreign language, or advanced math, science, etc. classes. Those just won't be part of the "core" anymore, they'll be redesigned and become major specific, so that everyone is back on a level playing field. You'll still need the same number of hours to graduate and the same level of sciences and math and language to get major specific degrees (we can't let you get an international relations degree without a foreign language!), the core just won't be as large a portion of your hours as before.

I'm assuming we're not talking about all this publicly because we don't want to appear to be criticizing the state legislature, but as a Fulbright grad, etc, I think this was a really bad idea. It was passed with the best of intentions, but without doing adequate research to make sure that it was fair to current 4-year students as well. Oh well, we've been explaining it to people that ask about it, but I hope it doesn't hurt the perception much.

[Mith242]

I admit I haven't had time to look back and see if this has been mentioned a while back. But I don't recall seeing this, or at least the details. The university is renovating Vol Walker Hall and also adding on to the building. Costs are expected around $32.7 Mil for both projects. Looks like the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is donating $10 Mil to help the addition along. The university is trying to place all it's architecture, landscape architecture and interior design program all together one one building.

[wmr]

I admit I haven't had time to look back and see if this has been mentioned a while back. But I don't recall seeing this, or at least the details. The university is renovating Vol Walker Hall and also adding on to the building. Costs are expected around $32.7 Mil for both projects. Looks like the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is donating $10 Mil to help the addition along. The university is trying to place all it's architecture, landscape architecture and interior design program all together one one building.

Hope they keep the same architecture. Thats easily the second prettiest building on campus. Don't F it up!

[Mith242]

Hope they keep the same architecture. Thats easily the second prettiest building on campus. Don't F it up!

Yeah I haven't heard anything on how the addition will look. You'd like to think with it being the architecture building that they wouldn't allow some sort of addition that wouldn't go well with the rest of the building.

[thewizard16]

Yeah I haven't heard anything on how the addition will look. You'd like to think with it being the architecture building that they wouldn't allow some sort of addition that wouldn't go well with the rest of the building.

They've become quite strict on the design and districting standards of campus in the last few years. The addition and renovation will preserve the original style, and they're going to make use of a lot of the project as an education project for the architecture and interior design students, so having the architecture professors somewhat involved should ensure a quality project.

[Mith242]

They've become quite strict on the design and districting standards of campus in the last few years. The addition and renovation will preserve the original style, and they're going to make use of a lot of the project as an education project for the architecture and interior design students, so having the architecture professors somewhat involved should ensure a quality project.

Surely though they aren't going to actually go all out and put up some limestone walls. I'd love to see that, but I can't imagine them actually going that far with it. I'd imagine it will just be some sort of concrete that will try to replicate that look.

[zman9810]

Here's a couple of photo updates of campus projects. I had planned to check out the Vol Walker work but, of course, my camera battery had to die.

The first is the Garland Ave. parking deck project- they have started on the top level and are well into the separate retail section. It looks like the entire Garland Ave. frontage will have ground floor retail space also.

The second is the Nanotechnology Building- they have started on the exterior brick work. The dark red brick is going to contrast with the other buildings in the area much more than I realized although it will blend in with the Kappa Sigma Fraternity house.

[thewizard16]

Surely though they aren't going to actually go all out and put up some limestone walls. I'd love to see that, but I can't imagine them actually going that far with it. I'd imagine it will just be some sort of concrete that will try to replicate that look.

I believe the last addition to a building with that stone pattern (may have even been that building, actually) was done with stone, but it would be relatively easy to replicate that look with a good concrete finish or stone facade. However, the design standards may require actual stone. I'll keep an eye out for that info. In other news, there is going to be a lot of construction going on on campus this year and next year as well... the nanotech building and Garland deck are new construction, but there will be a lot of renovations going on as well. They're currently renovating and expanding Davis Hall (across from the health center and the law school- seeking LEED Silver), the renovation and expansion of the Garland House (FIJI fraternity house), full renovation of Peabody Hall (back to the red brick!- seeking LEED Silver), renovation of the old Bud Walton hall for academic use, renovation and expansion of the nursing and speech hearing building, and then starting the phased renovation of Pomfret Honors Quarters will involve a lot of activity on campus. It'll be like 2005-2006 all over again. Always exciting to see these kinds of improvements.

[Mith242]

Thanks for the pics Zman. I haven't had a chance to swing by the university in a while to see how things are coming along.

[thewizard16]

Interesting video from the Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities at the UofA today: http://newswire.uark.edu/article.aspx?id=14164

I didn't realize so many classroom upgrades and remodels were in the works or already in progress. Also very happy to see they put a short timeline on replacing the science and engineering auditorium.

[Mith242]

Interesting video from the Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities at the UofA today: http://newswire.uark.edu/article.aspx?id=14164

I didn't realize so many classroom upgrades and remodels were in the works or already in progress. Also very happy to see they put a short timeline on replacing the science and engineering auditorium.

Thanks for the link. Sorry I've been a little slow responding to things this week.

[wmr]

Well, here's a disappointing development.

The addition to Vol Walker Hall, in the historic core or campus, appears to have been designed by Marlon Blackwell.

I like Marlon Blackwell's designs, and I'd be all for him designing a new building someplace on campus.

But this is just disgusting to me. Take a historic, beautiful building like Vol Walker Hall and attach this monstrous thing to the back of it.

Why the hell does the U of A waste its time on all these planning studies delineating different campus districts if when the time comes for renovations and additions, they just throw all of those plans out the window?

I hate this idea, and I love Marlon's work. What the hell are they thinking?

[Mith242]

Yeah I think I've got to agree with you. I also like Marlon Blackwell and would like to see his architecture on campus. But I also really not sure this is the best place for it. I suppose part of it is his ties to the Architecture program. I've seen some examples of someone adding on a much newer radical design onto an older building. Some of those were okay, I'm not always a huge fan of that. But I've seen some situations where it's worked alright. But to me this just seems a bit too extreme. Maybe it would help to see some more renderings. But I'm just not seeing how this design is going to 'blend in' with the rest of the architecture in that area. I think I'd much rather see this design built elsewhere on campus, as a stand alone building. I wish he would have done the new Nanotech Research Bldg. I think that would have been a lot more fitting. A stand alone building near the edge of campus that actually somewhat showcases that area. And a bold modern design to reflect the modern research going on inside the building.