Representative’s Renderings by Lily Berrios
Hope all of you are doing well. It is the time of the year when the air gets cooler and the pace picks up as we focus on closing various activities. That has certainly been the case at SCUP as we closed the 2008-09 fiscal year at the end of September. In that regard, we have reason to celebrate. Our membership in the region is close to 1,000 and despite the economic downturn we met or exceeded our financial commitments. Thanks to all of you who contribute with your membership, participation, and sponsorships. The 2009-10 fiscal year is off to a good start. We held our regional conference in Memphis October 7-9, 2009. One hundred and forty attendees gathered to present and discuss “Enhancing and Maintaining Your Institution’s Cultural Heritage.” This rich theme was a perfect fit for the setting, Memphis, and really brought forward some very interesting sessions as institutions presented how physical and academic initiatives tie to their mission, history, and culture. Special thanks to the 2009 Southern Regional Conference Committee and their leaders: Tom Woodward-conference chair, Todd Dolson-program chair, and Tom Nenon-local host. Special thanks also to the leaders and staff at the University of Memphis for their participation and hospitality. I want to take this opportunity to thank our institutional members for their efforts to participate at the various events we held through the end of September 2009. Combined, 35 percent of the total attendees at events held during 2008-09 were institutional. Starting 2009-10, in Memphis, we had 33 percent institutional participants. As we looked at statistics for the last three years the southern region has maintained a good ratio (40 percent) of institutional attendance at events. Many factors contribute to this: location, timing, topics, and speakers. We realize that most recently, limited budgets and travel restrictions have been affecting institutional attendance. To that end, please remember that our region has initiated a Professional Development Grant program. As part of our budget we have set aside a total amount to be offered, through the year, to institutional members who may need financial support in order to attend a specific event. We offered this for our Memphis conference and one grant was awarded. We intend to continue offering it through 2009-10 and in the other four SCUP regions. Look for more information about this in the following months, particularly as registration for conferences opens up. Finally, as soon as we finished our conference in Memphis several of you called or emailed asking, “Where is our next Regional Conference?” Well, it will be in Charleston, SC, sometime in fall of 2010. I love to hear the amount of interest and enthusiasm already. Do plan to attend and look for notices of other special events we will be having between now and then. Stay tuned and best wishes for a good holiday season! Lily Berrios Welcome to Our New Council Member
John has been in the current position for three years and was the assistant director for facilities management prior to his current position. John worked in commercial construction and development for 20 years prior to joining the university. He is a graduate of the SCUP Planning Institute and a member of several associations that supports his career. 2009 Southern Regional Conference Enhancing and Maintaining Your Institution’s Cultural Heritage
Watson Harris woke us all up with an interactive plenary session we won’t forget on “Institutional Culture-How to Identify, Change and Celebrate.” And you would have had your pick of 20 concurrent sessions (Veronica Mendez, photo left, presented “Family, Culture and History-A New Student Life Philosophy for UTB/TSC’s Campus Housing Master Plan” and Earl Broussard, photo right, almost had a full house as he shared a wonderful presentation about “The Power of Place on Campus”.) In addition there was a leadership panel at the Thursday lunch and a closing plenary on Friday at lunch, both with excellent speakers.
2010 Metro Mini The Southern Regional Council has begun plans for the next metro mini to be held in Texas. The cities of Dallas and Houston are being considered. Suggestions for topics for this one-day event should be sent to Bob Gunn, special events chair, bgunn@clarknexsen.com. Regional Sponsors SCUP’s Southern Region is proud to present our sponsors. Thank you sponsors for your continuing support and participation: Partner Gold Silver Bronze SCUPers, please contact our generous sponsors for information about their services and products and let them know how much we appreciate them. Note to potential sponsors: A complete SCUP Southern Region Sponsorship Package and Benefits Listing and Application Form can be found at www.scup.org/asset/48712/southern_application.pdf and www.scup.org/asset/53631/2009-2010_RegionalPackagesandBenefits.pdf. You can also contact Gita Hendessi at gita@hendessiassociates.com or Lewis Godwin at lewis.godwin@gpc.edu. Communications Report SCUP Southern Region News is published by the SCUP Southern Region Council to inform members and friends about SCUP’s Southern Region’s plans, activities, and issues. You will note in the following articles that members of the southern region periodically contribute articles and information to the SCUP Southern Region Newsletter. You can participate in this communication effort, too. We need individuals to step up and volunteer as state representatives. Representatives are asked to contribute information of interest for their state and institutions on a quarterly basis. Four representatives are needed: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. If you are interested in representing your state or area, please contact me, nnusbaum@txstate.edu. Planned publication dates are January, April, August, and November. Feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone who might be interested. Then invite them to join SCUP so they can get their own newsletter each quarter. Membership Report Cindy Holt, Regional Membership Coordinator, holt_mkt@bellsouth.net Professional Development Report Mary Ann LaFleur, Regional Professional Development Coordinator, mlafleu@uvi.edu. Volunteer Report Watson Harris, Regional Volunteer Coordinator, wharris@mtsu.edu Awards Report Tim Fish, Regional Awards Coordinator For more information go to: www.scup.org/page/membership/awards. News From State and Area Communication Coordinators FLORIDA New College System Under Development With the creation of additional enrollment capacity via the Florida College System, state tuition policies are beginning to change. Public universities will be able to begin raising the tuition of undergraduate students in an effort to catch up to national averages for similar institutions. The Bright Futures program will also be changed to cover less of tuition charges, enabling more revenue to be raised. Brevard Community College Recognized for Sustainability Efforts GEORGIA Emory University Designated First Green Certified Campus by GFA Georgia keeps Triple-A bond ratings Emory Receives LEED Gold Certification; Successfully Utilizes BIM Technology Building Information Modeling (BIM) was identified early in the process as a valuable tool that we could leverage to great advantage on this project. HOK Architects and Holder Construction were both very involved in innovative ways to use this emerging technological tool. The project team used BIM in a variety of ways to reduce cost, construction time and coordination conflicts. Keel Named President of Georgia Southern University Erma Byrd Biomedical Research Center Largest LEED Gold-Certified Student Housing Project MEXICO The Association of Registrars and Student Services Officers (Asociación de Responsables de Servicios Escolares y estudiantiles, ARSEE) held its Second National Conference in the beautiful city of Aguascalientes, located in central Mexico. The theme was accreditation as strategic initiative for attaining quality in colleges and universities. Rodney Rose, SCUP past president (pictured above), was the plenary speaker. He brought his 40 years experience to the conference and his presentation was much appreciated because of his experience, insightful remarks, and wide vision of the higher education scenario. More than 120 registrars, admissions and student services officers attended, from institutions across all the states from Mexico, many of them already members of the association. ARSEE was founded three years ago by a small group of enthusiastic university officers for the betterment of the profession and to guarantee quality in higher education institutions in Mexico. NORTH CAROLINA Western Carolina University broke ground for a 160,000-square-foot home for the College of Health and Human Sciences. The new $46 million building is expected to open in 2012. It will serve as the cornerstone of a new neighborhood focus on health care, where students and faculty will study and teach alongside a mixed-use area that could include health care providers, medical device companies and specialized clinics. The North Campus Building D at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh and the School of Education building at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro received AIA North Carolina Merit awards. Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC, is planning a $25 million science complex expansion. When completed, the complex will more than double the space devoted to science education, from 33,000 square feet to 68,000 square feet. The new facility will prepare students for science and health careers. The new complex will include state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms and will update and improve the facilities of the Minges Science Building, which first opened 50 years ago. North Carolina State University engineers create a material that could hold a trillion bytes (terabyte) of data on a fingernail-sized chip, which is 50 times the capacity of today’s best silicon-based chip technologies. The engineers report their nanostructured Ni-MgO system can store up to 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text. The process also shows promise for boosting vehicles’ fuel economy and reducing heat produced by semiconductors, an important development possible leading to more efficient energy production. North Carolina A&T State University and University of North Carolina-Greensboro broke ground in Greensboro on a new partnership and a new building: the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. It is believed that the universities will not only maintain their regional competitive research and development but also better prepare their graduates by combining their resources and strengths. The 100,000-square-foot building, where students will partner with businesses to study how to make small things do big things, will open in fall 2011. Built on 1,500 acres of land reclaimed from the Yellow Sea off Incheon, about 35 miles West of the South’s capital Seoul, New Songdo City is billed as the largest private real-estate development in history—Korea’s answer to Shanghai and Dubai. Five years ago it barely even existed on a map. Forty percent of Songdo is officially designated “green,” including the centerpiece 100-acre park. The city’s main car depot has been buried in a sunken courtyard to keep heat and emissions down. A sleek new public transport system including underground trains linked to Seoul and a network of electric water taxis in the city’s salt-water canals will help make this one of the cleanest urban areas on the planet. The center’s centerpiece is the Global University Campus, a collaborative attempt to blend Korean, European and American academic strengths. At least two US colleges—the State University of New York at Stony Brook and North Carolina State University—have signed up to the project and another three are in line. Officials in Durham broke ground on the new Duke Medicine Cancer Center scheduled to open in 2012 will put all cancer-related activities under one roof. The center, part of a $700 million project includes a new Duke Medicine Pavilion for surgery and critical care. Taken in combination with the just-opened North Carolina Cancer Hospital on the University of North Carolina Medical Campus in nearby Chapel Hill, a new epicenter for cancer treatment and research is created in the “Triangle.” Guilford College received LEED Silver certification for its restoration of Archdale Hall. The building was constructed in 1885 and has been used as a residence hall and faculty offices. The $800,000 renovation included the addition of a rainwater collection system, waterless urinals, and blown-in insulation. OKLAHOMA College Prep Materials Available to Oklahoma Students Oklahoma Receives $6 Million Award for Research in Ecological Science State System Sees Record Fall Enrollment Statewide Degree Completion Program Receives National Award SOUTH CAROLINA Plans are in the works for the New Year, although we are still working through financial difficulties of the current 2009-10 fiscal year. Budgets are being adjusted and strategies devised to survive another year of lower funding expectations. After several rounds of cuts in the current year, another 2 or 3 percent cut was added on recently. Unemployment is expected to top out at 12-13 percent in 2010. Income is projected to be flat for the next calendar year. It seems that institutions in every state have experienced state budget cuts on top of reductions in state support. The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education recently sent a letter to Governor Sanford regarding reduced support in South Carolina. They expressed worry about the diminishing level of support for higher education since cuts experienced by the state’s college and universities last year were among the largest in the nation. In addition to requesting restoration of operating funding, they also asked for bond funding for facilities renovation and replacement. The letter stated “Over the past decade, the share of the state’s core budget dedicated to higher education institutional operating funds has steadily declined from approximately 15 percent to about 10 percent today. If the share of state funding for operating support for our colleges and universities had been maintained, core support for higher education institutions would be over $250 million higher than it is presently.” Clemson University has requested approval to offer a program leading to the Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering with a concentration in Natural Systems, to be implemented Fall 2010. The proposal cites Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicating that there are over 54,000 environmental engineers employed in the nation, more than the combined total for material and chemical engineering. The BLS also indicates that a B.S. degree in environmental engineering is helpful for students who might wish to continue into related areas such as environmental law. According to the proposal and BLS data, employment in environmental engineering occupations is growing “much faster than average.” The proposal states that this increase in environmental engineering positions, predicted to reach 25 percent by 2016, is fueled by increased interest in the area and the replacement of retiring workers in the field. TENNESSEE Tennessee Higher Education in Spotlight Tennessee Colleges Set Record Enrollment Stimulus Funds Keep Tennessee Colleges AfloatTennessee higher education is receiving an extra $228 million in state and federal funds as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and millions more in research and student aid funding. Money has flooded in—restoring slashed research budgets, bolstering Pell grants and work-study programs and lifting schools out of a deep budget crater carved out by years of successive state cuts. "We're using these dollars to prepare for when they're gone," said David Gregory, vice president of administration for the Tennessee Board of Regents system. Before the stimulus money came along, some of the schools in the Board of Regents system were facing an average of a 15 percent reduction. State Government Faces Up to Nine-Percent Cuts TEXAS Texas Higher Education Rolls Hit All-Time High Board Forms Panel to Study Potential UTSA, Health Science Center Merger A number of local leaders have supported UTSA’s efforts to become a Tier I research institution. Some are convinced that the merger of UTSA and the Health Science Center is key to that effort. The Health Science Center is one of the leading research institutions in Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. It is a chief catalyst of San Antonio’s $16.3 billion health care and biosciences industry. The prospect of merging the two institutions was first explored in 2002 and, following an analysis by a higher education consultant, regents concluded that such a merger wasn’t in the best interests of the institutions at that time. UT System officials say the new advisory panel is expected to report its findings to the board of regents no later than June 1, 2010. Baylor, TSTC Partner to Form Waco Research Center Construction Projects Abound in Texas on Higher Education Campuses The University of Texas at Arlington Special Events Center Lone Star College to Begin $79 Million in Expansions Texas Tech to Borrow $13 Million for Stadium Expansion Texas Christian University Dining Services Reduces Waste US VIRGIN ISLANDS Governor John deJongh Jr. Signs 2010 Budget 2010 Census Awarded to UVI UVI Board of Trustees Meeting Paradise Jam–Sports Tourism in the Virgin Islands Environmental: Lionfish Invasion STATE NEWS FROM OTHER SOURCES ARKANSAS The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board has approved rules that will govern scholarships funded by the new Arkansas lottery. The panel took the action amid concerns that the plan places too much emphasis on current high school students preparing to enter college. The board classified current college students who enrolled directly after high school as nontraditional students, ignoring objections from members of the lottery's legislative oversight committee. The lottery's scratch-off ticket sales started on Sept. 28. Based on $400 million in ticket sales it has been projected that the lottery would raise $102 million in scholarships in its first year. LOUISIANA Louisiana Tech University recently broke ground on its technology research park, Enterprise Campus. Tech says the Enterprise Campus will create more than 1,000 jobs and stimulate economic growth by about $185 million per year. OTHER NEWS Technology Gap • 75 percent said that their institution "understands how they use or want to use technology." • 67 percent are happy with their own technology professional development. • 74 percent said that they incorporate technology into every class or almost every class. • 64 percent said that they teach in what they consider to be a smart classroom. Sounds like a technology savvy professoriate. But when students were asked whether their professors understand technology and have integrated it into their courses, only 38 percent said “Yes.” Further, when students were asked about the top impediment to using technology, the top answer was "lack of faculty technology knowledge," an answer that drew 45 percent of respondents, up from 25 percent only a year ago. And only 32 percent of students said that they believed their college was adequately preparing them to use technology in their careers. Atlanta Named Most Toxic US City Following Las Vegas as the top 10 least toxic cities are: Sacramento, Riverside, Austin, Seattle, San Diego, Virginia Beach, San Jose, New York and Phoenix. The title of most toxic city goes to Atlanta, followed by Detroit, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Jacksonville, Baltimore and Portland. Crowded urban areas are often thought of as the most polluted, but the latter isn't always caused by the former. While the Atlanta metro area takes top honors for toxicity, don't blame the city alone. The Atlanta metro includes the cities of Sandy Springs and Marietta, the sites of chemical plants, metal coaters, and concrete factories. The cities have toxic-release levels equal at or higher than those Atlanta, in spite of populations that are 15 percent and 13 percent the size of Atlanta's, respectively. In some many cases, such as Atlanta, it is not the main city itself that is to blame for poor air or dirty water. As Forbes explains, much of the pollution for some cities comes from factories and plants in surrounding areas. The most toxic cities and surrounding areas: America's Greenest Colleges
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Greetings SCUP Southern Region Members!
John Russell is director of facilities planning and construction for Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX. He is responsible for all capital planning and improvements on all property owned or managed by Angelo State University. John is also responsible for all real estate acquisitions and leases for the university. 
If you were not one of the 140 attendees at the 2009 SCUP Southern Regional Conference you missed a wonderful tour of Rhodes College and several other activities along with interesting and thought provoking sessions. (Diehl Statue-left, Burrow Library with cork floor-right)
The opening plenary session at the University of Memphis FedEx Institute of Technology - The Zone featured President Shirley Raines (photo, left), who shared with us how a leader links language and planning to bring change to the culture of an institution. 
Southern Region Representative Lily Berrios gave a warm welcome (photo, left). Next photo, Berrios presented “Elvis” sun glasses to Tom Nenon (local host), Todd Dolson (program chair), and Tom Woodward (conference chair, giving his best “Elvis smirk”).
One of the great traditions of SCUP is the dine-around. Nancy Nusbaum, along with Local Host Nenon, had the pleasure of hosting a large group (photo, far left) at the famous Rendezvous restaurant that specializes in barbeque ribs. And finally, the conference closed with a tour of Graceland (photos, right).
Emory’s newly constructed 118,000 square foot Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences (PAIS) building recently received LEED Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). This academic and research building is the third Emory edifice to receive LEED Gold certification in 2009. For this building to achieve this certification many sustainable features were implemented. For instance, a bioswale was installed in the courtyard to remove silt and pollution from surface water run-off. Additionally, over 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from local landfills by recycling construction debris. And 92 percent of the wood-based building materials were harvested from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forests. Other green building features include energy and water conservation efforts. Emory holds the distinction of having one of the largest inventories by square footage of LEED certified building space among campuses in America.
The primary design goal at the West Virginia University-Health Sciences Center, for the Erma Byrd Biomedical Research Center (WVU-HSC, BMRC) was to create a highly efficient yet flexible lab environment. The ability to readily customize the lab setting will, in the Heath Sciences Center’s eyes, significantly enhance their abilitsy to recruit skilled researchers across disciplines to support the University’s research mission. A number of innovative design concepts were incorporated to enhance operations, building efficiency and accelerate discovery.
Niles Bolton Associates, of Georgia, recently completed the largest LEED gold-certified student housing project in the United States located at California Polytechnic State University—Poly Canyon Village. This project is nine, 4-5 story buildings with 2670 beds, 5811 village retail center, conference rooms, seminar room, laundry units, outdoor pool, beach volleyball court, basketball court, and recreation center. The village was built on 30 acres, 992,000 gross square feet.Document Links
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