I The Behrend Beacon
DATE:
TIME:
Come see the Community
Center featuring the "NEW"
Rental Office,
and Fitness Center. Also,
check out the new home of
Hungry Howie's (now open).
Located directly across the intersection from
the Penn State Behrend College.
Febraufry
Random Acts Of ICindness
Penn State Behrend's JanetAitif4'
Sample Center for Civility :c
the lookout good deeds this
Faculty and staff will be handing out
Bruno's coupons for any act of
kindness witnessed on campus.
Monday
High: 39°F
Low: 24°F
Partly Sunny
Wednesday
7..
4.•. Wk. .
High: 46°F
Low: 33°F
A chance of rain.
Mostly cloudy.
Interesting weather fact:
According to NOAA, the largest 24 hour
temperature drop in the U.S. was 100° in
Browning, MT. The temperature fell from
44 0 to -56° on January 24-25, 1916.
Weather forecast courtesy , of student meteorologist Mat Alto
.:" . 7 .- larsday, February 12th Hun.
11:00 AM To 4:00 PM
Laundromat
Tuesday
High: 42°F
Low: 30°F
Mostly cloudy with a
chance of rain.
Thursday
High: 41°F
Low: 32°F
Cloudy with a chance of
CAMPUS NEWS
ate@t'ames
universit
Dramatic changes to Reed, Dobbins
continued from front page.
the policing lot, so the new facil
ities will be visible from outside
the building.
The next major revision com
ing to campus is the renovation
of Dobbins Hall. According to
Penn State Behrend Housing and
Food Services, conception for the
project started in 2002. In 2005,
the project was put on hold die
to budget concerns, but was res
urrected in 2007.
"Our best case scenario would
be having the facility completed
and fully operational in the fall of
2010," said R. Randall Geering,
Director of Housing and Food
Services at Penn State Behrend
"We will probably start construc
tion sometime next school year
and have it finished in the sum
mer of 2010. Hopefully it will be
ready the following school year."
The project, which has a pro
jected cost of about $7.5 million,
hopes to add an elevator to the
facility, as the steps to Dobbins
have proven problematic for
some.
"When we got our
estimate back, we
were a million
and a half dollars
over-budget. All of
a sudden we had
to redesign once
again."
- R. Randall Geering
"The steps to Dobbins are hor
rible," says Geering. "In the orig
inal design we had, the steps were
EVERYONE
WELCOME!
roperties.com
going to be eliminated complete
ly. We had to pull back on that,
but we are still planning on an
elevator."
"They envisioned
a building as a
welcome center
for students com-
ing into the
University, and
also a place for
those who have
left to come back
Dr. Ken Miller
Current plans will require stu
dents to take two elevators to
enter the cafeteria, the first of
which will be on Aquarius drive
which will transport up the first
hill. At this point, students will
have to walk to another elevator
that will take them to the
entrance of Dobbins.
When the renovations are fin
ished, the food stations inside
Dobbins will be completely
changed. According to Goering,
there will be a new wok, a new
salad bar with a toss station, a
char broiler, a pasta area, and a
home-style cooking area.
The downstairs area of
Dobbins is also changing. A
hallway will be put in place with
a conference room, training
moms, and offices.
Geering claims the project
would have been completed soon
er, if it weren't for the economy.
"We picked the project back up in
December of 2007 and planned
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Snack
(814) 899-5160
to."
Free
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on going out to bid in November
2008," he said. "Right around
August is when the bottom fell
out of the economy. When we
got our estimate back, we were a
million and a half dollars over
budget. All of a sudden we had to
redesign once again."
Now, financing is no longer an
issue, according to Geering. "It
looks like we're ready to go out
to bid with this project, hopeful
ly we'll know something within
the next month or two," he said.
"If we can get what we want, it
will look pretty nice."
In the near future, the
University hopes to construct the
Bob and Sally Metzger Weloome
Center.
"A few years ago, we
approached a donor about helping
us move admissions and financial
aid to the upstairs of Reed," says
Miller. "They envisioned a build
ing as a welcome center for stu
dents coming into the
University, and also a place for
those who have left to come back
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Major chows aie skied for Dobbins in 2010.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Howie's
to. That's where the Welcome
Center came from."
The project is currently out for
bid, with construction tentatively
beginning this summer.
Future construction projects
are currently in the planning
stages, including a new fitness
center and a new residence hall.
"'The fitness center is still in
the planning stages," Miller said.
"My own feeling is that I would
love to see a fitness facility added
to the Reed Union Building."
According to Miller, the
University is taking students'
concerns into serious considera
tion, partly due to the recent stu
dent facility fee survey which
elicited 1,200 responses from the
student body.
"We're going through the num
bers of the facility fee survey and
are thing a data analysis on it,"
says Miller. "Once this is done,
we'll post the results online and
do an open forum about them.
This will help guide the priori
ties for the committee."