This summer, significant work is underway on both the Springfield and West Plains campuses, which will result in incredible new academic spaces, improved student housing and services areas, and a new health and wellness center for our students, faculty and staff. Many of these projects will be completed this summer and all should be finished by the end of the year.
Construction update
In several months work will be complete on Glass Hall. As glass is installed on the outside of the building and the surface of the building begins to take shape, we can start to see what the finished product will look like. I hope you are as excited as I am to see this new facility when it opens during the fall semester. We will host a ribbon cutting ceremony in October. You can see progress on this building with the online construction camera.
The Ellis Hall project is in the final stages and expected to be ready for students, faculty and staff by fall 2017. Window framing is 90 percent complete and glass installation continues. Lighting has been installed and sheetrock installation is nearly complete inside the recital hall. Several feet away, construction has not yet begun on Hill Hall (the project will begin in late July), but faculty and staff are in the process of moving to their temporary office locations.
Work is also getting ready to begin on the third floor of the Professional Building. The project will include the genetics/physiology lab, anatomy lab, introduction to biosciences labs, the masters of public health lab and a graduate assistant’s workroom. The work is scheduled for completion before the fall 2017 semester begins.
Renovation of the former West Plains Post Office, transforming it into Hass-Darr Hall, is also underway and expected to be complete in January 2018. The facility will house the Carol Silvey Student Union along with the Drago College Store, admissions, tutoring, the Veterans center and the William and Virginia Darr Honors program. You can see progress on this building with the online construction camera.
Last summer we renovated the bathrooms in Blair House. This summer the bathrooms in Shannon House will receive the same treatment. Work began on this project shortly after students moved out, and the project will be complete in time for students to move in for the fall semester.
The new health and wellness center is under construction and expected to be complete in December 2017. Framing for the exterior curtain wall is going up. You can also see progress on this building with the online construction camera.
Several other projects will be underway this summer, including the computer labs in Cheek Hall, the expansion of Parking Lot 39, the weight room in Hammons Student Center, the Chilled Water Loop, a new elevator in Kentwood Hall and more. You can find updates on these projects on the planning, design and construction webpage.
Construction projects have an impact on the campus community. Subscribe to the Administrative Services Notifications blog if you would like to receive notifications of utility interruptions and physical impacts to campus.
Chosen name
If you have logged on to My Missouri State recently, you may have noticed a new addition on the Profile page under personal information. In response to student requests, information services has created a custom web page that enables faculty, staff and students to specify their “chosen” first and middle names.
Several systems have been updated to display the chosen name rather than the legal name and additional systems will be changed in the future. A person’s chosen name will appear instead of or in addition to the person’s legal first name in university-related systems and documents where it is technically feasible and where the use of the legal first name is not required by university business or legal need.
We have several members of Administrative Council who belong to the middle name club. They are excited to finally have university documents, mail, etc. addressed to Brent Dunn rather than William Brent Dunn, Wes Pratt rather than Harold Wesley Pratt and Suzanne Shaw rather than Margaret Suzanne Shaw. Check it out; it’s an easy process.
Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!