Two academic buildings at the University of Michigan to receive $10.1M in upgrades
Two University of Michigan classroom buildings will receive $10.1 million in renovations this year, pending Board of Regents approval.
The cupola of University of Michigan's West Hall.
Mark Bialek
Another project will relocate U-M's astronomy department from the Dennison Building to the third and fourth floors of West Hall. The relocation will facilitate collaboration with the school's Center for the Study of Complex Systems and physics department, already located in West Hall.
To accommodate the department, crews will renovate 21,800 square feet of West Hall. The renovation of the two floors and moving expenses are expected to cost $5.5 million. The project also is expected to be completed in the summer 2014.
Both renovations are anticipated to provide 25 jobs.
The university's eight-member governing board is expected to approve the renovations during a 3 p.m. Thursday meeting at the Michigan Union.
U-M's Department of Architecture, Engineering and Construction will design the physiology department's new space, while Quinn Evans Architects will design the astronomy department's new area.
Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.
Comments
Andy Price
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 5:43 p.m.
Cue the UM-bashing comments from those who could not get in.
RUKiddingMe
Wed, Jun 19, 2013 : 12:09 a.m.
I was going to retort, but then I walked by the fountain downtown, and a newspaper page with a story about the AAPS budget blew against my feet, and I realized you're right; everyone DOES know what they're doing, and it IS the right thing. Oh, and something somehing big word something more big words something.
blue85
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 11:57 p.m.
"Cue the UM-bashing comments from those who could not get in." Agreed. It is always astonishing to read the pointlessly vitriolic posts on this board. It is amazing that Ann Arbor and the environs comprise so many people who know so much about construction costs, university inflation factors, appropriate pay for different instructional ranks, budgeting, how to woo donors, where to place buildings, how to submit grant proposals, how to design an appropriate methodology for studies ranging from nuclear materials spalling to social leverage, how to offset state funding shortfalls, how to evaluate a professor for tenure....you'd think Ann Arbor was a village of Goethe's. And it may well be, but not on these pages. The only rub is getting through the actual dearth of concrete knowledge and the preliterate exposition in order to realize it is just resistance to and fear of the unknown and/or rank jealousy.
Little Patience
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 5:59 p.m.
Best comment here!
social conscience
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 5:24 p.m.
Kellie, I'm not sure if university construction can be construed as reporting on higher education. Perhaps a journalistic effort on the poverty caused by the U's intransigent residency policy leading to greater student debt would be more appropriate? If you must cover construction, please report on the lack of rainwater retention the U enjoys while all others must construct. Of course, you'll probably delete this as we don't want any valid critique of the U or AA.com to cause any real meaningful discussion.
blue85
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 11:51 p.m.
"I'm not sure if university construction can be construed as reporting on higher education. Perhaps a journalistic effort on the poverty caused by the U's intransigent residency policy leading to greater student debt would be more appropriate?" Why would you challenge one part of the university's cost structure without looking at the interdependencies in that budget? What makes you think that offering tuition relief to students who do not qualify for residency is a higher order priority than ensuring that there are buildings to take classes in? What makes you think that your ostensible agenda -- tuition relief -- should become the concern of all others who follow the education reporting in/on these pages?
MickMax
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 5:59 p.m.
It's news. Just information without spin or opinion. They're relocating a department and renovating. It's easy but meaningless to criticize someone for what they didn't write about. To All: if you have insight or opinion that you don't see being reported, then make a "journalistic effort" of your own and write a piece.
Kellie Woodhouse
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 5:46 p.m.
Thanks for the ideas. I get what you're saying, construction isn't traditional higher ed reporting. Still, it's something we cover here because such projects at the U have an impact on our community —whether its changing the landscape, taking properties of the tax rolls or just changing where someone shows up to work— and A2.com is a community newspaper. We do a mix of things here, enterprising higher ed reporting and construction reporting and even the occasional post on baby falcons. Everyday is interesting. Again, thanks for the ideas. Please call me (734-623-4602) if you want to discuss further. Kellie
John of Saline
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 3:41 p.m.
They'll always be East Engineering and West Engineering to me.
a2xarob
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 8:30 p.m.
East and West "Enjun" to me.
Nicholas Urfe
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 1:36 p.m.
"retrofitting offices into a research laboratory and support spaces for the psychology department's biopsychology and neuroscience efforts." Neuroscience? Is that where they insert electrodes into the brains of cats?
blue85
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 11:47 p.m.
"Neuroscience? Is that where they insert electrodes into the brains of cats?" Are you talking about the number one program in the country? "But don't they still use cats and monkeys at umich to do research?" If your expertise is such that you have a new research paradigm that doesn't include rats, cats and monkeys, I suggest you contact the university post-haste, as well as the NIH and the CDC...I'm sure that they will be appropriately grateful when you introduce your new paradigm.
MickMax
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 5:43 p.m.
What if they do? For more than a hundred years, virtually every medical breakthrough in human and animal health has been the direct result of research using animals in research. Whenever possible, researchers do use non-animal models such as computer models and tissue and cell cultures. However, animal testing remains a necessity. For example, blindness cannot be studied in bacteria and it is not possible to study the effects of high blood pressure in tissue cultures.
Nicholas Urfe
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 4:50 p.m.
@MickMax: That is all very wonderful. But don't they still use cats and monkeys at umich to do research? My friends who do that research say Yes.
MickMax
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 3:28 p.m.
Neuroscience is where researchers study such things as the progression of Alzheimer's to develop better ways to detect, diagnose, and treat people. http://www.sfn.org/
RUKiddingMe
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 11:58 a.m.
So this makes, what, 1.6 billion in building/renovating within the last 12 months? Looking forward to that tuition hike. We NEED that addiitonal money, look at all the money we spent!
alan
Thu, Jun 20, 2013 : 4:30 p.m.
And nobody makes those VHS tapes anymore. Maybe they made the right decision.
RUKiddingMe
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 5:36 p.m.
You're right, everybody, I'm sorry. I realize now that the University of Michigan is very carefula nd considerate with every dollar, and none of their expenditures are unnecessary, and a very rigorous ROI porcess is followed first to make sure all buildings or tear-downs and rebuilds are critical to the continued successful operation of the university, and every square foot of space and technology is meeting a 100% utilization. I know it greatly helped my Spanish grades when they replaced every TV and VCR in the MLB with big-screen flat screens and laserdisc players in '93. I couldn't learn anything from the VHS copy of Como Agua por Chocolate. Again, my apologies.
blue85
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 4:20 p.m.
"So this makes, what, 1.6 billion in building/renovating within the last 12 months? No, that figure is wildly inaccurate, more like 1/3 of that figure. Creating fictional numbers as a response to a topic which requires serious thought undercuts credibility for subsequent posts. "Looking forward to that tuition hike." No. The housing is part of the auxiliary units. While pools of funds are somewhat fungible, this will not lead to a tuition increase, but a fee increase. This is not potato versus po-tato: fees have an extinguishable life and are earmarked to ensure that specific asset streams match specific liability streams, rather than being generally pooled. "We NEED that addiitonal money, look at all the money we spent!" No. Every generation of UM students is the beneficiary of the tuition/revenue streams and yes, fees, of prior generations. Unfortunately, as the tax code and accounting standards recognize, buildings have finite lives and must be replaced. Many of the buildings, especially in the residential life area, experience very heavy utilization and were/are past their shelf life. Maintaining them or replacing them avoids even larger future maintenance costs and reduces full-life carrying costs. Maintaining buildings is part of what is called maintaining "inter-generational equity"...if you move into a new building and pay lower tuition and fees than later classes you get the best deal...as the buildings age you get, successively, an average deal, then a bad deal. If it is a classroom building, the same logic applies. UM is a very well managed place and is constantly balancing the need to renovate, versus the need to pay salaries and buy other equipment, versus the cost of tuition increases. I don't think the pursuit of any of this is either a trivial or frivolous exercise.
MickMax
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 3:32 p.m.
Investment in infrastructure pays off. Unfortunately, there is a tendency in the U.S. -- amplified by Tea Party types -- to be critical of any spending at all. That's part of why our roads, bridges, and railroads are falling to pieces. Let's build, grow, and improve -- not rust and rot.
LA
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 : 10:48 a.m.
Wonderful photo of the West Hall cupola.