Upcoming construction projects at the College rest on budgetary decisions expected to be made in Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting and the priorities of recently hired administrators, including incoming vice president of campus planning and facilities Lisa Hogarty and incoming provost Carolyn Dever.
Progress on the Dartmouth Master Plan, a major strategic planning effort addressing the ongoing development of campus buildings, landscape and infrastructure, has been put on hold until the newly appointed administrators begin, associate vice president of Facilities, Operations and Management Frank Roberts said.
“You’ve got to get all the people in place,” Roberts said. “Those are the folks that need to set the strategic direction.”
Existing buildings that require support must take funding priority, Roberts said, though ongoing maintenance has less of a visible impact than major construction projects. The money available for new structures depends on the amount needed for maintaining roofing, mechanical systems and smoke and fire detection systems.
Facilities, Operations and Management recently hired a private company, VFA Inc., to conduct a survey of campus buildings and document their maintenance needs, Roberts said.
Meanwhile, work will continue on capital projects approved last year, such as the construction of Kappa Delta sorority on Occom Ridge and the internal gutting and redesign of 4 North Park Street, the soon-to-be Triangle House, that will host the LGBTQ affinity program. The KD sorority house is expected to be completed in July, while Triangle House will open for residents in the fall.
The two current housing projects are part of an ongoing initiative to improve residential options for students.
Next year, the office of residential life will offer new living and learning residential communities, including a global village, an arts and innovation community and a number of design-your-own communities.
The option to apply for some residences — including Triangle House, the global village and an entrepreneurship-focused program – will be extended to first-year students for the first time as well, director of residential education Michael Wooten said.
Wooten said he and other administrators are working to improve options for intellectual engagement and residential continuity.
“Frankly, when you have a 14 percent drop in your admissions numbers, you double down on what you’re good at,” he said, adding that he believes two of Dartmouth’s strengths are its academic excellence and sense of community. The residential system should model these qualities, he said.
Wooten said that he is eager to begin working with Hogarty, who in her previous role as vice president of campus services at Harvard University led an initiative to make common spaces on Harvard’s campus more welcoming.
Wooten said he believes Hogarty’s design experience will allow them to optimize Dartmouth’s campus for learning.
“You should expect as an undergraduate student to be interfacing with all the learning possibilities of this campus,” Wooten said. “To do that, we have to design the place in that way.”
Over the past several years, most construction projects have focused on academic and community spaces. The Collis Center renovations, begun in the winter of 2013, modernized Collis Cafe and introduced new student spaces. The Life Sciences Center, opened in 2011, and the Black Family Visual Arts Center, opened in 2012, provided new homes for academic departments.
Recently announced renovations to Novack Cafe will add more tables, new upholstery, a color-accented wall and framed artwork to the space during the spring term.
Director of project management Matthew Purcell said the current administration is committed to remaining fiscally responsible.
“We’re charged with being misers, and we’re pretty good at it, I think,” Purcell said, “contrary to what you read otherwise.”
