Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to provide an update on the ongoing summer campus master plan projects. The UC is stunningly different than when you last saw it. At the west entrance, where the Hub, Public Safety and Career Development were located, the walls have been removed and scaffolding is up in preparation for removing the floor above, opening the entire area for development of a beautiful new student commons space.  On the first floor most walls and some of the concrete slab have been removed in preparation for a new food court, bookstore, post office, and Harry’s. Designs for the annex are nearing completion and will include some great new space for student functions. Tremendous progress has been made in the first six weeks of summer. We are currently painting the Caf and refinishing the wood work, followed by an extensive, deep cleaning of the entire space. We are still on track to reopen the Caf only on July 10. The only accessible entrance will be from Ben Brown.

The fencing around Reid, Burns, and Chapman will be coming down next week. We expect to receive a certificate of occupancy in early July and furniture will be moved in through the end of the month as it arrives from the manufacturer. We expect the occupants to move in the first week of August. We will plan open houses and tours as we approach Fall semester. Even though the fencing is coming down there will still be a lot of activity going on in the building and so we ask that you not visit, just yet. I can tell you however, that the buildings are beautiful inviting spaces and will be a wonderful home for several of our departments within the Howard College of Arts and Sciences.

Watch a short video of these projects.

Ingalls is progressing on schedule and we expect a certificate of occupancy for the top two floors by mid-August. It is our goal to have the academic departments moved in so they can get settled during the week of beginnings. We will keep you posted on the details. Admission and Financial Aid will move in a little later after the rush of the beginning of the semester.

Furniture is going into the Rotunda and Rotunda Club today. The punch lists are being finalized and expected grand opening is in time for Fall semester.

Dorm preparation is going well. So far we have completed maintenance, hvac, painting, floors, and cleaning on 15 of the buildings, along with the complete remodel of 42 bathrooms. We only have 16 more buildings to go! We expect to finish this work in early August and can return to completing work orders at that time.

Beginning next week we will start road projects, widening of the front gate westbound turn lane, painting and striping in parking lots, work to repair Russell plumbing, West Village plumbing, the expansion of the Bashinsky Academic Success Center, a new Analytics Lab in Brock School of Business, sidewalk repair, roof repairs, and other necessary infrastructure projects. These projects will cause some minor disruption to campus and we will notify you on the specifics as they get closer.

I hope everyone is having a good summer. Please keep us in your prayers as we work to make these great improvements for Samford.