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daily kansan
wednesday ◄
7.8.98
one.b. ◄
Sports facilities undergo changes
By Melinda Weaver Kanson staff writer
Many KU athletics establishments will be sporting new looks next season.
The biggest construction project is the $25 million renovation of Memorial Stadium, resulting in a new lower concourse.
The stairs have been replaced, and new concrete has been poured around the entire building.
"It has better lighting. It's dry," said Pat Warren, assistant director of athletics. "People who have never been there before won't be able to appreciate what has been done, but those who have will be amazed."
Memorial Stadium is not the only building receiving a face lift this summer.
Allen Field House restrooms are being updated to meet requirements in the Americans with Disabilities Act, and an elevator will be added in the building's south end. The number of women's restrooms is being tripled. A few one-room restrooms, called family restrooms, are being added for parents with small children and people who need extra privacy.
The track around the middle of the first floor is being replaced with an even-surface floor, and the exterior doors will be replaced.
The construction is expected to be completed by the end of September in time for the opening of basketball season.
Between the field house and Anschutz Sports Pavilion, a gym — complete with locker rooms, a ticket window and concession stands — is being built. The building will contain three volleyball and basketball courts.
The volleyball team, which has competed in the field house, will have its own auditorium.
"The location is very convenient for players and fans," Warren said. "Proximity is important in all we do."
Renovations also are taking place at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
The $1.5 million improvements include new restrooms, concessions and lighting.
The number of seats has been increased from 1,300 to 2,000, including 186 luxury theater-back seats in the lower center area.
The old dug outs have been torn down. Ground-level dug outs that should not collect rain and dust will replace them.
"Hoglund Ballpark will have a much better look and feel," said Darren Cook, director of facilities. "It has an old baseball feel now. There's a wrought iron fence and more room for people to come and enjoy activities before the game."
Memorial Stadium is still undergoing construction throughout the summer. The renovations include new concession stands, restrooms and doors. The construction should cause by football season. Photo by Lizbey Weber/KANSAN
Couple donates money to honor museum curators
Elissa Harris
Elissa Harris
Kansan staff writer
Money for old bones and new ideas has been given to the Natural History Museum by KU alumni Hubert H. "Hub" and Kathleen McBride Hall of Lecompton. The couple donated $45,570 to support the museum.
They provided $20,570 last August to assist the museum's acquisition of two camerasaurus dinosaur skeletons found by University researchers in Wyoming in 1997.
The museum used the money to support the researchers and to pay the owner of the property on which the skeletons were discovered.
In January 1998, the couple gave a $25,000 gift to the Kansas University Endowment Association to benefit students studying vertebrates.
Hubert Hall, a retired geologist with Exxon, is the chair of the museum's board and the son of former museum director, E.R. Hall.
The gift includes matching funds from the Exxon Education Foundation.
The funds will be offered to students who are researching fossil vertebrates and recent vertebrates, for which vertebrates of our time are identified, said Brad Kemp, assistant director for public affairs at the museum.
A dinosaur skeleton is on display at the Natural History Museum. The museum has acquired funds geared to aid students in vertebrate research. Photo by Joseph Griffin/KANSAN
The education funds were set up in honor of former
museum assistant curators Charles D. Bunker and Handel T. Martin.
The men were left in charge after the 1910 departure of L.L.Dyche, the museum's namesake.
"All of the young Kansas farm boys who wandered into the museum were taken under their wings," Hubert Hall said.
"If you'd looked at the roster of leading ornithologists or mammalogists back in the 1950s, they were probably men who were co-opted into the field by those guys."
Hall's father was one of their students. Hall said he and his wife wanted to honor Bunker and Martin's memory as well as the memory of his parents.
The grants will be offered each semester. Each fund will be available to graduate students whose grant proposals are accepted by the museum administration.
The museum administration will decide which students receive funds, but it is the role of the Endowment Association to raise money, manage funds and make them available, said John Scarffe, director of communications for the association.
Requiring students to write grant proposals is a way of preparing them for seeking funds after they graduate and go on to research and teaching positions, Kemp said.
Funds approved for Spencer to hire expansion architect
By Elissa Harris
Kansan staff writer
The Spencer Museum of Art only has room to display five percent of its 19,000 works, but its staff has taken steps to change that fact.
On June 25, the Board of Regents approved the museums request to raise private funds to hire an architect to investigate expanding the museum, said Andrea Norris, museum director. However, funding for a new addition hasn't been approved, Norris said.
The Board requires approval of private fund-raising conducted by universities, said Barb Conant, director of communications for the Regents.
After approval, the authority for the project is delegated to a university.
Expanding the museum's facilities could provide more library space, more study areas, better office space and new galleries.
Norris said the museum hopes to add 50,000 square feet to its existing 79,000 square feet. She can only estimate the cost of a possible addition at less than $20 million.
"We could have designated spaces for certain kinds of art we can't show well now." Norris said.
She envisions a gallery specifically created for the Kansas art collection and the collection of quilts.
"I think there's potential for it to be the best building in Kansas," Norris said.
A new addition to the existing building would provide an opportunity for innovative design, she said.
"We'd really like to double the space frankly," said Susan Craig, librarian at the Art and Architecture library, which is housed in the lower level of the museum building.
When the library opened in 1980, it had 40,000 volumes. It now has reached 125,000 volumes. Compact shelving has been incorporated to accommodate the volumes, but is only a temporary solution, Craig said.
"The truth is we're just going to keep growing," Craig said. Expanding the museum is something that museum staff has talked about for a long time because it seemed inevitable that it would need to happen, said Carolyn Chinn Lewis, assistant to the director.
The request was submitted this summer because, Norris said, the timing just seemed right.
Options exercised to expand Robinson
Board considers plans to enlarge recreation center
By Liz Wristen
Kansan staff writer
KU students occupy Robinson exercise room. The student senate has discussed renovation plans to expand the academic building. Expansion has occurred in the last couple years but improvement is still in sight. Photo by Lizz Weber / KANSAN
Fueled by the perception that the University of Kansas has outgrown Robinson Center, a campus advisory board is considering plans to expand or rebuild the recreation facility.
Robinson Center, located at the corner of Naismith Drive and Sunnyside Avenue, has been a topic of interest for students and faculty over the past few years. Members of the recreation advisory board, which is composed of students and faculty, and Student Senate have discussed the issue at length.
The board proposed a plan in 1996 that was voted down by the student body in part because of the high costs it would create for students, said Mary Chappell, director of recreation services.
After the 1996 referendum failed, the advisory board let the issue rest while they obtained student feedback. Chappell said that a new facility would be a big issue with Student Senate this fall. The addition of more evening classes in the center might not allow students use of the facilities until later than 5:30 p.m.
"Robinson was never intended for use as a recreation center," Chappell said. "It was built for use as an academic building to accommodate classes."
"Right now, more classes are scheduled to meet at Robinson, and some of these classes are running later in the evening," said Kevin Yoder, student body president. "We are looking at how we can best fit student needs with the current facilities."
The advisory board has considered several options which would create more recreational opportunities for students.
The current building may be expanded west toward Naismith Drive or east in the direction of the Computer Center. However, an expansion would not accommodate as much equipment as a new building. Chappell said that if a new facility were constructed, the University would attempt to keep the facility close to campus. One site the administration has considered is on land south of Watkins Memorial Health Center.
"We are hoping that the new facilities will offer multiple purposes for student use," said Bob Lockwood, Robinson Center facility director. "This is a chance for students to have more organized intramural activities and be able to deviate in really diverse areas. New facilities would offer students improved services and
more organized activities for which they can compete."
Besides the need for more recreation equipment, plans to create more facilities were sparked by students' increased interest in recreation and sports clubs, Lockwood said.
"Recreation gives a student the opportunity to go out at their own pace, reduce stress anxiety, get in a health pattern, and it may increase their academic performance as well." Lockwood said. "We are hoping that with the help of the student advisory board, that we can figure out what recreation facilities the students really want."
Lockwood said the administration had not determined what equipment an expanded facility would house. With the help of student interest, a plan could be proposed this fall, and the planning process potentially could be completed by April, Chappell said.
"Our mission is to provide facilities and recreational opportunities for this institution." Chappell said. "We are looking ahead at life with the needs of students in mind."
The University plans to phase in the new facilities, Chappell said. Recreation Services currently is gathering ideas for the new facilities based on student interest. The University then will be able to determine how much the construction of new facilities will raise student fees. Chappell said that the advisory board was working to come up with a plan that only would charge students who used the new facilities.
Robinson Center summer hours for recreational use are Monday through Friday, 6 to 8 a.m., 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Robinson Center is open Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 8 p.m. For more information, contact the center at 864-3491.
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