THE
SHIELD
T h u r s d ay, S e p t e m b e r 7 , 2 0 1 7 | U s i s h i e l d . c o m | V o l . 4 8 I s s u e 4
Master plan maps future
NEEDS EED USI
Infographic by Abigail Stanley | The Shield
by Riley Guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
In 10 years, the university will increase enrollment by more than 5,000 students, take the engineering department out of the business building and build a second entrance and exit to campus. At least that is the plan. Last Wednesday, outside design firm SmithGroupJJR sent campus planners Doug Kozma and Lauren Leighty to present and receive feedback for the university’s next master plan. The university hired the firm to construct the next master plan, a 10-year outlook on the university’s facilities, academic programs and enrollment.
“A master plan is a flexible decision making tool,” Kozma said. “It has to be opportunistic, but it has to be realistic. I like to say that a master plan is not a mandate, but it is an opportunity based document.” The firm began work on the master plan in January and Kozma said it will end up being a 12-month project. The last master plan was designed in 2006. The goals included improving the entrance onto campus and identifying locations for new facilities Kozma said he thinks the master plan should be a transparent document that is of the people and for the people. “It has to be built from the ground up; it can’t come from the top down,” he said. “Frankly some
of the best ideas for long range planning come from the users themselves.” One portion of the plan focused on expanding parking on campus. Kozma said he uses three measurables when looking at parking: quantity, type and location. “I think at USI one of the challenges will be not the quantity, but the location,” he said. “As we look forward 10 years and we do add programs and students, one of the larger challenges that the master plan will have to solve is where do we relocate parking and in what quantity.” There are currently 6,726 parking spaces on campus and 72 percent of students are commuters. Kozma said funding for any additional buildings in the plan are on
his mind as they continue working. “It’s a wonderful balancing act that we will be doing as part of the master plan for the next decade,” he said. “We can dream too big and not be able to afford it, but I think we don’t want to be in that position.” The content of the master plan can be boiled down to five topics, Kosma said: enrollment, utilization of space, campus needs, student housing and dining and character of campus. Kozma said the outcome they are aiming for is to create a prioritized vision of the future of the university. “We have had an opportunity to work with lots of clients all across the United States of America and we have found this particular campus to have a special spot in our heart,” he said. “The people here, the culture -
Master Plan, PAGE 3
RFWC launches Eagle Perks by Noah Alatza npalatza@eagles.usi.edu
The Recreation, Fitness and Wellness Center will give away free tickets and coupons to various activities and amenities in the Evansville area beginning this month. The program, pinned as Eagle Perks, is aimed to increase student engagement across the university. “This is funded through the student activity fee,” Dave Enzler, director of recreation, fitness and wellness said. “We will run this out of the (RFWC), but it is campus wide.” Eagle Perks showcases a host of Evansville’s surrounding museums and events. “From tickets to the zoo, the African American Museum, to free hayrides at Mayse Farm,” Enzler said, “We have something for everybody.” Students can pick up their tickets from the RFWC during normal business hours, with a student I.D. Only one ticket is available per student. Enzler said an Oct. 21 Holiday
World Trip is planned, with all expenses including admission and transportation paid for. The House of Lecter, an Evansville-based haunted house which runs along the Olde Courthouse Catacombs, will have coupons for single and double tickets. “A year or so ago the institution raised the student activity fee,” Marcia Kiessling, associate provost for student affairs said. “We pulled a group of students together to meet in the fall and early spring semesters. We literally just brainstormed ideas until we had a final list.” Kiessling said that the original plan was to build a bowling alley on campus, but those goals were not realistic. “Students don’t always want to do a group activity; they might be in classes or at work,” Kiessling said. “We set (Eagle Perks) up in a way where it is not intended as a group effort, instead students and can take advantage of these opportunities on their own schedule.” With the longest operating hours of
any campus building, the RFWC was chosen simply because of the convenience, Kiessling said. “By listening to them, and implementing programs they helped craft, all with an opportunity to do something on their time,” Kiessling said. “This is a great demonstration of partnering with our students.”
FAST FACTS What: Eagle Perks Where: RFWC When: Normal business hours Monday - Thursday 6 am - 1 am Friday 6 am - 10 pm Saturday 10 am - 8 pm Sunday 1 pm - midnight
Archie’s Army to fly from nest BY RILEY GUERZINI news@usishield.com @rguerzini Bailey Anderson said Archie’s Army’s process to become an organization is nowhere near what other organizations have to do. The Student Government Association general assembly voted to table a resolution Thursday that would remove Archie’s Army, a student cheer group for athletics, as a standing committee from the SGA bylaws. Anderson, Archie’s Army president, said her reason for authoring the resolution was to give the committee more freedom from SGA in terms of funding and events. According to the SGA bylaws, “No committee may take action without the consent of the General Assembly.” “I won’t have to bring up
any resolutions or anything like that (to take action),” Anderson said, who is also a College of Business representative for SGA. “At the SGA meetings we will be considered our own organization, so it will be funded through athletics.” Archie’s Army will also be eligible for travel, student organizational support and start-up grants if the resolution passes. “Previously we have been funded by both SGA and Eagle Athletic Support,” she said. “This past year we discussed moving Archie’s Army into their own organization; so at the end of the year we created two budgets: one with Archie’s Army in SGA and one without, with the budget only being Eagle Athletic Support.”
archie, PAGE 3