| MICUA CAPITAL PROJECTS: Building Up a Qualified Workforce |
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MICUA Matters Fall 2011
MICUA is requesting $11 million in capital improvement grants from the State to support construction and renovation projects on four member campuses for fiscal 2013. The MICUA member institutions will use the State grants to leverage nearly $70 million in private capital investments. The projects will redress workforce shortages in areas such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and address classroom space deficiencies.
The Johns Hopkins University is seeking a $4 million State matching grant in order to construct a 105,000 square foot facility for undergraduate laboratory sciences. The glass-clad new structure will connect with the existing buildings in the biology complex at the University’s Homewood campus in northern Baltimore. Teaching laboratories for biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and biophysics will take up the lower three floors; the upper floor will accommodate biology faculty labs, meeting spaces, and offices. The facility will include shell space for future expansion.
“The Johns Hopkins Biology and Chemistry Departments produce students trained in critical disciplines such as genetics, virology, immunology, organic and biochemistry, which are vital to the State’s constantly growing biotechnology industry,” says Johns Hopkins President Ronald Daniels. “The Departments also generate substantial research revenues, which have a multiplier effect on the economy of the State. In addition, those research grants lead to further discoveries and development of intellectual properties, which are often translated into start-up companies, or sold to existing companies.”
The existing undergraduate teaching laboratories are dispersed among several buildings and are long out-of-date relative to current teaching methods and supervision of activities. A number of retrofits and updates have not been able to address the inadequacies of the facilities. The existing work stations, equipment, and safety provisions are deficient, and the laboratories are well below modern standards and those of peer institutions.
Particular attention has been paid to ensure that the new building will be a model for low energy usage with a benchmark target set of using half of the energy of the average of the existing science buildings on campus. As a matter of policy, the University has set an expectation that all new buildings and major renovation will meet at least LEED Silver requirements. In addition, Johns Hopkins has set a goal of 25 percent minority business enterprise participation in construction contracts, and the majority of sub-contractors will be local, resulting in high participation of local business enterprises.
“A group of students, faculty, and staff have been at work for nearly two years developing plans to introduce a variety of creative learning spaces across campus,” says McDaniel President Roger Casey. “The students and faculty of today place a great deal of emphasis on collaborative learning. Group projects, team presentations, and joint student-faculty research endeavors are just a few examples. Learning is no longer confined to taking notes in a large lecture hall and studying alone in one’s dorm room or an isolated corner of the campus library.”
Hoover Library was renovated and expanded some 20 years ago. Since that time, undergraduate enrollment has grown from 1,100 to 1,600. In addition, there are now over 2,000 graduate students enrolled in any given semester, the majority of whom are in the field of education. Approximately two-thirds of McDaniel’s undergraduate students and over 80 percent of the College’s graduate students are Maryland residents.
Because of a shortage of classroom space in Alumni Hall (home to the College’s Theater Arts Department), acting classes are sometimes drowned out by the sounds from set construction. The planned solution includes conversion of an existing storage site on campus into a new technical production classroom.
The proposed improvements to Hoover Library will be available for use to not only the McDaniel community, but also to the students and faculty of the Carroll Community College as well as the membership of the County’s public library. The proposed benefits to Alumni Hall will also benefit the wider community. Throughout the year numerous plays, lectures, and performances occur in this facility—all are open to the public, and the majority are free of charge.
“As we know, nursing and teaching have historically represented areas of critical workforce shortage in the State,” says Notre Dame of Maryland University President Mary Pat Seurkamp. “We should note that 95 percent of the Notre Dame students are residents of the State of Maryland. Most will remain in Maryland and serve these critical State workforce needs.”
The need for program expansion in nursing and education is well documented: by 2018, more than one million new nurses will be required nationally due to needs-based growth and the replacement of current nurses. In Maryland, the shortage of nurses is projected to be approximately 12,000 by 2016. Hospital expansion in the Baltimore region will require additional nursing personnel. The nine current nursing programs at public institutions are at capacity.
In education, Maryland institutions of higher education have prepared about 50 percent of the teachers needed to staff Maryland schools, and the State has imported teachers to fill vacancies. While the shortage of teachers has begun to abate, the critical need for new teachers still exists in key areas that Notre Dame of Maryland provides, such as STEM education, special education, and early childhood education. The University now enrolls 1,300 education students.
A liberal arts college with national status that is known for its distinctive “great books” curriculum, St. John’s is located in the heart of Annapolis. The College brings jobs, tuition dollars, and room and board funds to Maryland, as well as travel and tourism dollars associated with parent visits, prospective student visits, and public events held at St. John’s. However, the 2008 economic downturn has impacted college enrollments nationwide, and St. John’s has been no exception, leading the College to make admissions a top priority.
“The admissions office is the front door of the college for new students and that front door must be welcoming and attractive. While all colleges prefer to be judged by the quality of their academic programs, there is no denying the effect of first impressions,” says St. John’s President Christopher Nelson. “The admissions staff is also sharing much-needed space with our advancement offices. At the same time that the admissions office is short on space, so is our academic program, which needs both classroom space and faculty offices.”
In order to accommodate the expanded admissions program, the College must renovate the 4,400 square foot Carroll-Barrister House. The structure was built in 1724 and moved to the campus in 1955—and has been untouched since the original renovations at that time. The construction of a new 6,800 square foot building adjacent to the Carroll-Barrister House will allow the College to move some faculty and administrative offices that now occupy Carroll-Barrister House to the new facility and free up space for the admissions program to expand. In addition, the renovations will increase the building’s energy efficiency through improvements such as replacing the waterproofing membrane, sewage pump, and HVAC system.
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The State of Maryland has authorized grants for capital construction projects at MICUA member institutions since 1976. For more than a decade, the State has provided grants of $8 to $10 million annually for these projects. “The State’s partnership with its independent colleges and universities has proven to be highly effective and efficient. Maryland’s independent colleges now serve 63,000 students annually and produce 30 percent of all degrees conferred by a Maryland four-year institution—while receiving 3 percent of the overall State funding for higher education,” says MICUA President Tina Bjarekull.
McDaniel College plans to renovate two existing buildings—the Hoover Library and Alumni Hall—in order to create new learning spaces for students. The project consists of 78,640 square feet of renovation in the buildings and 300 square feet of new construction to create collaborative learning, classroom, and lecture spaces. The project will support the creation of study space with adequate technology, available 24 hours a day. It will also include larger venues for speakers and other presentations that are open to McDaniel and the surrounding community in Westminster and Carroll County. McDaniel is requesting a $1.5 million capital investment grant for this project.
Notre Dame of Maryland University is seeking a State matching grant of $4 million to construct a new 58,000 square foot building for the Schools of Nursing and Education. The newly launched School of Nursing includes a new four-year undergraduate nursing major which began in fall 2011. The growth of the School of Education has also placed demands on the capacity of current facilities. The new structure will house classrooms, teaching laboratories, student support space, and faculty offices. When completed, the new building will provide space for over 2,000 students in the two programs, as well as instructional and office space for more than 40 faculty and staff.
St. John’s College plans to construct a new building, Hodson House, to house a multi-purpose classroom and faculty and administrative offices. In addition, the College plans to renovate the Carroll-Barrister House, which currently houses the College’s admissions program. St. John’s is requesting a $1.5 million capital improvement project grant.