CAPITAL TIMES, August 26, 1991
Changes and renovations progress at PSH
John Rudy
Capital Times Staff
There has been a considerable number
of renovations and innovations to the
Penn State Harrisburg surroundings over
the summer months. James D. South,
associate provost for administrative
operations, outlined a few of the changes
that have been made and others that are
still in the works.
The first topic was that of the current
status of the Eastgate Center. Final
preparations are being made to begin
fitment of classroom furnishings at the
college's Eastgate Center in uptown
Harrisburg. The opening of the center,
located at 1010 N. Seventh St., had been
delayed since late 1990 because several
structural and safety modifications had to
be completed.
Initial use of the Eastgate Center will
be strongly geared toward accommo
dating special programs rather than
toward traditional student needs.
"We anticipate that a lot of the use of
this building will be as a service facil
ity," South said, "providing contract
programs for state government or
business and industry, in addition to its
regular program of resident instruction."
First classes are scheduled to meet
Sept. 3. "We're moving some tempor
ary furniture in there on Saturday [Aug.
25] and we'll begin moving staff as soon
Soviet Union, from page 1
"Yeltsin did not compromise, and it
was due to his act of defiance and calling
for the support of the people that he
succeeded."
Nechemias said that Yeltsin's
decision to occupy the Parliament
building was a decisive blow to the
right-wing coup, making himself a
"high price" to pay if the coup leaders
wished to capture him. She said that
one of the other problems the right-wing
encountered was the lack of reliable
troops, due partially because many of
them were forced to fight against some
of their own family members.
"There's no love for these people,"
[right-wing opposition] she said. "They
would have had to act more decisively
and with greater military clout to
succeed. Something they just didn't
have."
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PSH NEWS
as we receive a certificate of occupancy
from the Pennsylvania Department of
Labor and Industry," South said. "An
inspection of the fire alarm system is
still needed.
"The necessary changes to the stair
tower doors, the high-volume air
conditioning system and fresh-air
system, and installation of a handicapped
restroom have been completed," he said.
According to South, Penn State
officials conducted an inspection of the
facility on Aug. 12, and noted 38
discrepancies, many of which were
minor cosmetic imperfections in need of
repair by the building's developers. A
follow-up inspection is required to
determine whether those 38 items have
been corrected.
"There will be a grand opening for
Easlgate Center," South said. "That will
probably be scheduled for January, 1992.
We'll do that after the furniture is here
and after we get some of the ’bugs’
worked out of the building.”
When asked about concerns for
students' personal safety, South replied,
"I don’t see that the location is anything
to be concerned about. When you look
at the high-quality lighting that's around
the Eastgate Center and the office
building complexes situated nearby, it’ll
be a nice neighborhood." The building
is situated only blocks from a neighbor
hood with a rather unsavory reputation.
Were there signs that a coup attempt
was in the works before it happened?
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"There's a lot of excitement about the
location of the building because it offers
a great deal of potential. About the time
we start classes in early September,
construction work will begin on the new
Pennsylvania Higher Education Assis
tance Agency office building, which is
going to be adjacent to our Eastgate
Center on the north side. That will
dramatically change the face of North
Seventh Street," he said.
On-campus changes included a major
upgrading of the PC computer lab loca
ted in W 304 of the Olmsted Building.
The old IBM PC AT machines in that
lab were replaced with 35 Swan
Technologies 386SX computers. The
lab’s network is scheduled to be
connected to the University Park
mainframe this week.
"We've installed a 'backbone' connec
tion which provides for higher quality
data communication with University
Park, making local area networking
more flexible," South said.
Another on-campus improvement
was the completion of the classroom
communication system. To aid in the
educational process, Penn State Harris
burg has installed a communications
capability into every common classroom
on campus.
According to South, any classroom
can receive signals such as data coming
from the University Park mainframe
Nechemias said the unstable economy
had made many people skeptical this
past winter and spring, and that
Gorbachev's control rrtight be in
jeopardy. She recalled a woman she had
interviewed before her most recent trip.
When she asked her where she thought
she would be in six months. According
to Nechemias, the woman replied, "We
don't know where we are going to be
tomorrow."
But Nechemias said as early as last
month and the first part of August when
she was there, the so-called "reform
minded" people saw the country's
situation improving and were feeling
"upbeat about things."
"I think the people saw it as an
outside chance that there would be a
right-wing coup attack," Nechemias said.
"It was the worst possible scenario with
the best possible ending."
computer, video that might come from
cable television, or closed-circuit video
which might originate someplace on
campus and then be shown to one or
several classrooms at the same time.
"We worked very hard this summer to
put the capability in,” South said. "I
don't know whether any of the faculty
has begun to use it, but even if they
haven't, it's just a matter of time.
"It adds a tool to the toolbag carried
by the faculty member. It increases the
kinds of things that a faculty member
can plan to do in a given course, because
it makes more information available
much more easily.
"All the necessary equipment is now
available to utilize the system. We've
completed the connection to University
Park on what is known as a T-l link and
we've installed a device which will make
it possible for us to do compressed
video, which is interactive audio and
visual," he said.
In other business, Penn State
Harrisburg's plan to purchase a large
portion of the Fruehauf property is still
on hold. According to South, there are
some environmental issues that will
have to; be cleared up.
"There are some questions about
environmental concerns on their property
dating back to when it was still part of
Olmsted Air Force Base," South said.
"We would need to. have an environ
mental guarantee on it
"These concerns are not about, the
sections of the Fruehauf property we’re
looking at, but they have to get that
straightened out before-the purchase is
going to go anyplace. There has been
progress, but there's been no deal made.
It's still in the works,” he said.
The Student Apartment Building,
located across from the CUB Building, is
also being refitted. When completed it
will have seven classrooms, four
seminar rooms, an office complex for
Continuing Education, two Continuing
Education workshop spaces and two
overnight guest apartments.
"We made a lot of progress on the
renovation this summer," South said.
"This week, they're installing the
elevator. Drywall is up on the phase
one section of it, and we now have a
target completion date of November 25th
to move staff into the newly renovated
areas.
"We've had a couple of small
contractors, but our Maintenance
Department is doing 95 percent of the
renovation work," he said.
South added that when the building is
completed, a new name will be sought
for it - perhaps naming it for someone
making a generous donation.
The campus auditorium is also
scheduled for major renovation to begin
this year. "We have worked with an
architect and are just about to begin,"
South said. "We'll start doing the first
phase this fall."
New air conditioning, sound system,
and room and stage lighting are in the
works. All of the windows will be
removed and replaced with a wall
featuring acoustical enhancing character
istics. A major extension and redesign
will be made to the stage area, and even
See Renovations, page 5