As part of the Master Plan for campus renewal, the newly named University Center has moved forward in the planning process, Downey House has begun internal renovation, and more projects are starting.
At a dinner with trustees and Wesleyan volunteers on Friday, March 6, President Doug Bennet announced that the new University Center will be named the Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center, in honor of the mother of trustees John Usdan ’80 and his brother, Adam ’83.
The Usdan brothers have contributed the lead gift in support of the center’s construction, which is scheduled to begin in spring 2005 and to be completed by fall 2007.
“[The name is] in recognition of their generosity to the campaign and their interest in the project,” said Director of University Communications Justin Harmon.
According to Dean of the College Peter Patton, who is on the Master Plan Executive Committee, plans for the University Center are on schedule.
“We’re nearing the end of the design development,” Patton said. “We’re going to start producing the actual construction documents this summer.”
The current design, available at the master plan website at www.wesleyan.edu/masterplan, removes the eastern wing of Fayerweather and the locker rooms on the Wyllys Avenue side.
According to Patton, these parts of the building were added after the original building was constructed.
“We’re going to tear those off and preserve the original structure,” Patton said.
Landscaping projects surround the construction of the new center, which will be located inside Fayerweather and the Alumni Athletic Building. Beginning this semester the North College parking lot will be eliminated, and soon the road leading to it will be removed as well.
“The landscape will focus on opening the pedestrian access behind the Squash building across Wyllys to the CFA,” said Joyce Topshe, Assistant Vice President of facilities. “The new pedestrian way behind college row will transform this environment from what is currently an unsightly parking area to a lovely landscaped area.”
The latest building to begin renovation is Downey House, which will be redesigned on the inside to provide a central office space for several departments, including English, Romance Languages, College of Letters, Women’s Studies and Classical Studies. The Aramark offices and other facilities currently in Downey House will be moved to the new University Center.
“It’s to bring more of the humanities faculty together in one location and also to provide better office spaces,” Patton said. “It’s a reconfiguration of [Downey House] to turn it into a different kind of use.”
Though the interior of the building will be redesigned, exterior changes will be largely unnoticeable, according to Topshe. Along with providing new offices, the Downey House will also become handicapped accessible and meet other safety codes.
The renovation is part of a larger plan for a “Humanities District”, according to the Master Plan website, which included renovations to Fisk Hall in 2000 to accommodate the Russian department and Office of International Studies.
The English department, currently located in three buildings on Court Street, is also slated for renovations. According to Stowe, 285 Court Street will be renovated and maintained for use. The other buildings will be used as temporary offices during construction, and then returned to their original function as houses.
“Instead of being divided among three decrepit, inaccessible buildings, we will have new, fully accessible offices in our current headquarters, 285 Court, and in Downey House,” said William Stowe, chair of the English department. “There will be classroom space and social/meeting space there as well.”
According to Stowe, the planning process for the renovation has been underway since summer of 2002, and construction will be finished in January 2005.
The Fauver Field housing plan is also in planning stages, and is scheduled to begin construction this summer.
“Our specifications have gone out to bid to a number of contractors,” Patton said. “Within the next month and a half we’re going to choose a builder.”
Like the Clark Hall construction in 2001-2002, the Fauver Field housing units will be built on a one-year time frame, in time to be open in fall 2005. In-Town will continue to be used until the units are finished, then likely sold, according to Patton. Fauver Field will house frosh close to the other Foss Hill dorms. Seniors housing in the same space will face Cross Street.
Several other projects will begin in the near future, including further improvement of pedestrian areas and expansion of parking lots by the admissions office and Freeman Athletic Center.
“The campus landscape is an important component of Wesleyan’s Campus Master Plan,” Topshe said. “As part of the Campus Master Plan Wesleyan engaged a traffic and parking engineer to evaluate our campus.”
The engineer’s recommendations, which included more parking at the Davison Art Center and Vine Street lot, will be enacted over the next few years, according to Topshe.
“[Changes are] really starting to happen now,” Harmon said. “We’re at a moment where the changes are going to start.”