6 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
WEDNESDAY.JULY23.2003
UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT
Edwards Campus adds second hall
Kansas City campus expands to provide for growing enrollment
By Kevin Wiggs
kwiggs@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Soon the University of Kansas Edwards Campus will be just that: a campus.
Construction has begun on Regnier Hall, the second building on the Edwards Campus, in Overland Park, as the satellite location celebrates its 10th anniversary. The building is scheduled to open in the fall 2004 semester, said Elaine Warren, Edwards Campus representative.
The Regents Center building, the campus' original building, is at capacity. Since it opened in 1993, enrollment has increased by 77 percent, Warren said. The new building will allow the Edwards enrollment to double, from 2,000 students to 4,000.
"It's kind of like 'If you build it they will come,'" said Dick Bond, Kansas Board of Regents and Edwards Campus Advisory Board. "Every time we open a new class it fills up."
Warren said the building would cost $17.8 million to build.To finance it,the Victor and Helen Regnier Charitable Foundation donated $3 million,the Hall Family Foundation donated $5 million and the final $9.8 million will be paid through revenue bonds and student fees.
"It's kind of like 'If you build it they will come.'"
Dick Bond
Kansas Board of Regents and Edwards Campus Advisory Board
Regnier Hall will add 82,000 square feet to the current 55,000 square feet of the Regents Center.
The new building will contain 13 classrooms, nine lecture halls, three computer labs, 45 offices for faculty and staff, a 240-seat auditorium and an executive boardroom.
Regnier Hall is the first part of a $70 million expansion plan for the 36-acre campus, approved by the Kansas Board of Regents in September 1999.
Warren said Edwards offers 25 graduate, undergraduate and certificate programs. Regnier Hall will allow that to grow to 40 programs in the next five years.
Most Edwards students are full-time professionals at the graduate level, Bond said.
The building of Regnier Hall will increase the junior- and senior-level courses, but the emphasis will remain on graduate classes.
"It increases the presence of KU in the metro area," Bond said. "It will enhance KU's reputation and ability to serve the state."
— Edited by Maggie Newcomer
SWELTERING SUMMER
Hot weather can cause heat-related illnesses
Adam Bennett, Roeland Park junior, carries clothes-filled tubs from his apartment to his car. Bennett began moving Monday, despite the sweltering heat.
By Kevin Wiggs
kwiggs@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
With triple-digit temperatures becoming a daily occurrence this summer in Kansas, it wouldn't take water to make the Wicked Witch of the West melt.
Zach Straus/Kansan
Last week, temperatures rose over 100 degrees five times, with the mercury rising to 108 degrees on Friday.
Kansas is in the peak of summer and the high temperatures can cause problems, from heat cramps to heat exhaustion and even heat stroke.
Excessive heat exposure caused an average of 400 deaths in the United States per year between 1979 and 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Most leases end next week, and the roads will be full of moving vans and groups hauling couches, tables and beds to their next home. However, if the weather stays as it is, it will make moving a sweltering ordeal.
Robert Brown, student health physician at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said heat-related illnesses were not common during moving, but were possible if movers over-exerted themselves.
"People who are moving are not usually under time pressure and they don't hesitate to take a break," he said.
Brown said athletes who competed and
pushed themselves in the heat were more likely to suffer the effects of heat-related illnesses.
With the arrival of summer comes the necessity for some to work outdoors.
Construction workers put on their long jeans and face the heat to fix the University.
"Last week was one of the worst in quite a while," said Mark Hanes, a construction worker for 30 years. "We just have to put
up with it."
But Hanes hasn't seen any of his coworkers hospitalized because of the heat.
They start at 7 a.m. and battle the heat until 5:30 p.m. when they get to go home. They have a 30-minute break at noon, but no other scheduled breaks.
Hanes said the bosses were lenient when temperatures were so high.
Workers are free to drink water whenever they need to, and the crew's five-gallon water jug must be filled several times a day.
HEAT ILLNESSES
Heat cramps
Heat exhaustion — occurs when a person feels light-headed or collapses. These cases are usually mild.
Heat stroke —
Body temperature at least 105 degrees
Confusion
Slurred speech
Nausea
Diarrhea
Dizziness
Seizures.
This is a medical emergency and the person should see a doctor.
Treatment of heat-related illnesses -
Stay in a shaded, cool location
Elevate feet
Eat salty foods
Drink fluids with electrolytes, such as sport drinks
Visiting the doctor is necessary only if the person's condition doesn't improve, or if the person's body temperature rises.
— Source: Watkins Memorial Health Center
—Edited by Annie Bernethy