Constructing Campus Colors

Campus spirit has saturated the Rhode Island College grounds this summer, as the school's colors have been added to a wide range of infrastructure improvements. From buildings to police cruisers to garbage barrels, RIC's administrators and Facilities and Operations staff were busy this summer with changes – cosmetic and otherwise – to give the college a facelift.

"I feel like I go to a real school now" was the phrase repeated countless times on Facebook by students returning to campus over the weekend and into Monday.

While a total renovation of Donovan Dining Center, which is now about 90 percent complete according to College Dining Services officials, was the most prevalent of this summer's projects, nearly 70 other upkeep and maintenance endeavors were completed or will soon be completed, according to an e-mail sent last Thursday to all faculty, staff and students by RIC President Nancy Carriuolo.

"Thank you for your patience as dear old RIC gets a face lift," Carriuolo concluded her e-mail message.

Among some of the more visible projects are the new burgundy trash receptacles and refinished benches found in the Quad and throughout the campus.

Even the RIPTA bus port and parking lots in front of Roberts Hall are receiving a facelift – in fact, the port has a whole new location, as a result of the work done by Saratoga Associates through RIC's ongoing master planning process, which began last year and has a draft due on Sept. 10.

According to Carriuolo, "The master planners… recommended that we ease some of the problem with drivers driving the wrong way on one-way exits by closing several of the one-way exits from the parking lot onto College Road.

"By doing so, we will also add four to six parking spaces to the small lot. At the same time, we are moving the buses away from the crosswalk in front of Roberts Hall onto the small street that borders the pine grove. That one-way street has also been a safety hazard since people drive as if it is a two-way street, and several accidents have been narrowly averted," she said.

Carriuolo added that the elevators in Horace Mann and Craig-Lee are operational. The auditoriums in Clarke Science and a pod of rooms being completed in Horace Mann have not been finished, but are due to be completed early this fall.

"The smaller of the two auditoriums has its carpet installed, and I saw progress made in installing the seats," Carriuolo reported. She said the delays are due to the installation of fire safety equipment, such as sprinklers.

The iron fencing at the entrances to the college are being painted, new decorative fences were added around Alger Hall, and damaged fences, such as one near the Student Union Loop, were replaced. Several walkways and staircases were revamped, including the long-maligned stairs outside the Student Union. The concrete steps had been crumbling for years, and many of the metal edges were broken or missing, creating a dangerous path through a heavily traveled section of campus. The steps had been a frequent complaint forward by Student Community Government, Inc. to the college's Facilities and Operations staff.

Not only were the stairs replaced, but the metal railings around the entire loading dock for the Student Union were painted, changed from a bland metal to a crisp burgundy. The Student Union also received gold stickers on its entrance doors, and stencil work was done throughout the structure reflecting the Union's and the Student Activities department's new image.

Those small branding changes – including the expanded use of RIC's "Reach, Inspire, Connect" tagline adopted a year ago, were repeated all across campus this summer. Even RIC's fleet of police cars and utility vehicles received new designs reflecting the college's official colors and logos.

In total, summer renovations and updates affected almost every structure on campus. The old Sherlock Center for Disabilities will be converted into an athletic support center by Oct. 1, upgrades were made to classrooms in the Murray Center and the STEM II project is continuing to upgrade classrooms in Fogarty Life Science, Clarke Science, Gaige Hall and Horace Mann, along with a changeover from chalk boards to white boards and "E-classrooms."

A request for proposal for a feasibility study was completed for the Student Union, the next step in a process directly begun at SCG's insistence in 2008 to expand the structure and its capabilities as a campus nexus of student life. That proposal was approved as part of a larger capital improvement package by the Board of Governors for Higher Education, at their latest meeting on Monday. The next step in the process will be for the college to commit funding to hire an architectural firm to perform a full feasibility study on the building, according to Vice President of Student Affairs Gary Penfield.

Elsewhere around campus, infrastructure is being improved in and around Whipple Hall – including a roof replacement slated for this fall. Craig-Lee will have reroofing work done, also.

Craig-Lee Hall, in fact, will see much more than a new roof. Classrooms 051, 052, 053, 151, 152 and 153 were renovated during the summer, and new flooring was installed in 251, 252 and 253, according to the president's report. Hallway lockers were removed, replaced by benches on the first and second floors, and the former Financial Aid Office has been converted into four electronic classrooms.

The long-awaited Recreation Center renovation project will likely go out to bid by Sept. 10 at the State Building Commission, and in an announcement made by Carriuolo at the Opening Coffee Hour last week, the Art Center will be the next main campus structure to be completely renovated and expanded, pending voter approval in November.

The gym at Henry Barnard School received a facelift, and two bathrooms in the building are being renovated. Walkways and signage were improved throughout the campus, and RIC's sculpture program has been expanded, notably with a large sculpture near Adams Library in the Quad. The Steam Plant that provides heat to campus building was shut down for the summer, and the Dance Studio floor was replaced in Roberts Hall. Additionally, the President's House received "critical preservation to the house and surrounding structures."