More and More a Residential Campus – Functional and Beautiful

K. P. Karunakaran

The 90,000-square-foot building features the largest aqua-thermal heating and cooling system in Michigan. It contains solar-energy collectors capable of producing 15 kilowatts of electricity. These inclusions make the Health & Human Services Building an example of cutting-edge energy technology, enough so that the university received a LEED silver rating from the United States Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for this building as well.

“This new facility will provide students the highest quality education and preparation,” said K. P. Karunakaran, chair of the SVSU Board of Control, at the building’s dedication. “We are grateful to our regional legislators for their support of this most important project.”55

More and More a Residential Campus – Functional and Beautiful

The university board and Gilbertson determined that SVSU had reached its optimum size for the foreseeable future, and by 2013 had transitioned toward better accommodating the students and staff on an increasingly residential campus. Part of this entailed maintaining the beauty of the campus and making it a more livable space. Campus Facilities staff work year round in their commitment to, in the department’s own words, “create and maintain an exceptional environment to sustain SVSU’s competitive advantage.” For example, work on the walking trail around campus began in autumn 2001 with a grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation. The plan for the project called for the path to circle the campus, allowing space for bicyclists, walkers and joggers.56

A beautiful addition to the campus, the Robert and Amy Yien International Garden, was dedicated June 2, 2008. Designers modeled the 14,000-square-foot garden on a traditional Chinese garden, and it features two waterfalls, a limestone walkway and nearly 40 kinds of plants.57 In 2010, Hocquard received $40,000 from the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network to aid in creating a Native Planting Preserve north of the University Health Center to educate and raise awareness in the community about native plants. The university also maintains wetlands adjacent to Founders Hall.58

The administration indicated additional improvements to on-campus housing would continue.59 The university in 2009 installed security cameras and improved the campus emergency warning system. Part of such measures entailed the creation of a system through which students and staff could receive emergency notices via email and text message.

The university also integrated various energy conservation measures and installed power generators for backup in case of electrical outages.

At the start of the 2009 academic year, administrators and Covenant HealthCare opened the University Health Center at the northeast intersection of Bay Road and Pierce Road. The $2.6 million facility resulted from a partnership with the hospital and provides urgent care, and laboratory testing for the campus community and others.60

An explosion in the number of people using the Ryder Center also prompted the Board of Control in 2010 to authorize expansion of recreation facilities. Cardinal Fitness programs had grown rapidly from a little more than 100 student users during the 2007-2008 academic year to 900 two years later. During that same time, participation in intramural sports had grown 58 percent. “We want our students to have access to programs and facilities that allow the opportunity for a well-rounded student life,” Merry Jo Brandimore, vice president

The Robert and Amy Yien International Garden was dedicated June 2, 2008.

for student affairs/dean of students, said in 2010. “And Ryder Center simply can no longer accommodate our students’ growing demand for campus recreation offerings.” The newest Fitness Center opened in 2011, boasting more than 47,000 square feet of additional space for an elevated jogging track and modern exercise equipment.61

Ryder Center also grew to accommodate athletics as well. In winter 2012, the university named the pool in Ryder Center the Gerstacker Regional Aquatic Center. Funds from the Gerstacker Foundation and a match from SVSU made upgrading the pool possible. This was to become the home for the SVSU swimming and diving team, recruiting its first women athletes for competition in 2014-2015, and men the year following. In June 2013, the university also broke ground on a field house adjacent to the Ryder Center; it will house a 300-meter indoor track with a synthetic practice surface for the soccer, football, baseball and softball teams. The renovations will alter seating in the O’Neill Arena to produce a more intimate setting for basketball games and permit greater capacity for large functions such as commencement ceremonies. The new and improved Ryder Center will open in late 2014.62

The university also continued to regularly renovate academic buildings. In 2008, for instance, SVSU received nearly $3 million from the state to add classroom and laboratory space to Arbury Fine Arts Center. Contractors finished the addition the following year.63 Also in 2008, the university completed a half-million dollar expansion of the dining facilities in the Regional Education Center, which would serve that building as well as the students and staff from the Health & Human Services Building.64 The university dramatically redesigned the Doan Center dining facility in 2011, adding more than 100 seats to accommodate a larger campus population. The renamed “Marketplace at Doan” opened that fall.65

The second 25 years of SVSU’s growth was rapid, and most likely the university’s most significant era of growth it will experience. University officials have stressed that this growth came as a result of careful long-term planning. The university, they pointed out, consistently managed projects carefully, ensuring that each came in at or under budget and reminding donors — whether they are public or private — that investing in SVSU was a smart decision.

By 2013, dining options included (clockwise from top) Albert E’s, Einstein Brothers Bagels, Pappa Johns, the P.O.D. (Provisions on Demand) and the Marketplace at Doan, for which an open house/ribbon-cutting ceremony included Matt Wilton, former Dining Services director; James Muladore, executive vice president for administration & business affairs; and Ronald Portwine, associate vice president for administration & business affairs.

Art students gained additional space when an addition to the Arbury Fine Arts Center was completed in 2009.

The newest Fitness Center opened in 2011, boasting more than 47,000 square feet of additional space; an elevated jogging track and modern exercise equipment provide visitors with options for exercise.

The campus bookstore relocated several times between 1989 and 2013; its 2013 location at the west end of Curtiss Hall provides students and visitors with a reminder to shop for apparel and school supplies.

Gov. John Engler gave remarks in the lobby of the Arbury Fine Arts Center during groundbreaking ceremonies of Curtiss Hall, which opened in 1997 and is the home of the College of Business & Management.

Construction of Founders Hall moved rapidly after the April 25, 1995, groundbreaking. The university held dedication ceremonies Dec. 14 of that same year.

Construction crews broke ground on the Health & Human Services Building in 2009 and completed their work in the summer of 2010. The university dedicated the facility Aug. 16, 2010.

After a year of construction, a remodeled Pioneer Hall re-opened Sept. 10, 2007, with new classrooms and state-of-the-art foundry, bio-fuels, engine dyno and automotive performance laboratories.

The first building project outside of the academic core was the Regional Education Center north of Campus Drive. In 2003, the auditorium was named for Alan W. Ott, a long-time Foundation Board member.

The Bell Tower has been the site for both planned and impromptu ceremonies, including a one-year anniversary memorial to honor the victims of the 9/11 tragedies in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The Lillian Zahnow Amphitheatre and the Joanne and Donald Petersen Sculpture Garden provide space for outdoor performances or as quiet areas for reflection.

At the start of the 2009 academic year, administrators and Covenant HealthCare opened the University Health Center at the northeast intersection of Bay Road and Pierce Road.

Contractors added 1,500 permanent seats, a new press box, a concessions stand and restrooms to Wickes Memorial Football Stadium in 1991; endzone seating and lights for night games were installed in 2011.

After what architects referred to as “West Complex” was completed in 1997, the university named the central commons of the facility for former Board of Control member William Groening.

In 2010, SVSU received $40,000 from the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network to aid in creating a Native Planting Preserve north of the University Health Center. The university also maintains wetlands adjacent to Founders Hall.

In December 1995, the Board of Control began considering additional housing that would accommodate two goals: to create a more on-campus “feel” in transforming the university from its origins as a commuter college into a campus with a significant residential population, and as means to recruit students from a wider geographical range.

In 2001, the university began planning for a new student center that would aid this process by creating a “campus village” of sorts where students could congregate.

The center piece of the campus, and SVSU’s tallest structure, is the Melvin J. Zahnow Library. The fourth floor, which houses the Roberta Allen Reading Room, offers a spectacular view of the campus quad.

Eugene Hamilton served as special assistant to the president for government and community relations. He assumed the critical role of liaison with the Michigan Legislature.

Chapter 5

Governance and Structure

Board of directors and regents are common names that describe those civic volunteers who are charged with oversight of colleges and universities. SVSU’s governing body, the Board of Control, is the link between the university and the State of Michigan, and it has been integral and active in the shaping of SVSU.

Governors appoint, subject to Senate confirmation, eight members and predominantly, though not exclusively, have looked to the Great Lakes Bay Region for nominees for the eight-year terms. Usually, two members rotate off every two odd-numbered years, though reappointment is an option some governors have exercised. The president is an ex-officio member (i.e., by virtue of his position with the university).

“The work of our governing board is hugely important,” Gilbertson has said. “And, historically, the members of SVSU’s board have made tremendous contributions to the direction and character and success of the university.”1 He elaborated during his January 2011 State of the University speech:

The board’s policies are … key to understanding its effectiveness in governing. Unlike many boards — school boards, city councils and some other college and university boards — the Board of Control has historically operated under policies that clearly prescribe how matters are to be handled and decided. Many of these date back to the very founding of this institution.

The most important board policy is known as “Policy 101.”2 Under this policy, the general responsibility for managing the work of the university is delegated to the president; but the board reserves to itself final decision-making authority for matters that it has deemed most important.