BY ERIN POWERS // APRIL 23, 2012 // 

It’s hard to miss Curry’s alluring beauty when walking through campus on a spring day. However, it’s a different picture inside certain buildings.

Last spring, President Ken Quigley announced a multimillion dollar academic facilities initiative to revamp the school’s teaching and learning spaces. One year later, the project is slowly underway.

According to Sue Pennini, dean of institutional planning, an Academic and Faculty Capital Project (AFCP) team was formed over the summer to gather information and prioritize projects for consideration. Pennini and Bob O’Connell, director of Buildings & Grounds, co-chair the group, which includes Chief Academic Officer David Potash, Dean of Faculty Cassandra Horii, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Lisa Ijiri, and Paul Banville of Buildings & Grounds.

Faculty and staff have been asked to propose projects throughout campus, and the list has since been whittled down to about a dozen, from nearly 100, Pennini said.

To date, AFCP has narrowed its focus to renovations in the Faculty Building, Levin Library, Science Building and the nursing labs in Kennedy, among others. According to Pennini, the team also hopes to revamp Hafer 301 to provide an enhanced teaching/learning environment for the undergraduate and graduate education programs, as well as AAPC G14 to enhance technology-mediated instruction. Much of the work will likely take place over the summer to minimize disruption on campus, said Pennini, who didn’t respond to follow-up questions about where the money will come from to pay for the many renovations.

For their part, students—who aren’t represented on AFCP—believe some changes should happen sooner than this summer. “The library is in desperate need of more computers and places to study,” said Nathan Klairmont, a junior communication major. “It’s the worst going in there around finals time and not finding a spot.”