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28 FOOT 1 FOOT = 3.048 DECIMETERS - 1 YARD = 0.9144 METER MAYES BROTHERS TOOL MFG COMPANY on the level MEANS QUALITY JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE MADE IN U.S.A.
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JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Crews work on the second phase of Jayhawk Boulevard construction during Summer 2014. The end date of construction was originally Aug. 15, but has been rescheduled to end Sunday, one day before classes resume.
Jayhawk Boulevard construction end date delayed
TOM DEHART
news@kansan.com
The completion date of the second phase of construction on Jayhawk Boulevard has been rescheduled.
The end date was previously Aug. 15; however, according to an email sent Aug. 13 from the Office of Design and Construction Management, Jayhawk Boulevard is
scheduled to open by Sunday
scheduled to open on Sunday. one day before classes begin for the fall semester. The construction of Engel Road on Daisy Hill is now scheduled to end Thursday. Gavin Young, assistant director of strategic communications at the University, said the construction crews found that some material beneath the street was harder to
"We were disappointed with some of the delays on the Jayhawk Boulevard project," Young said. "There were some unforeseen conditions early on in the project as they were doing the excavation of the road that caused a few delays."
excavate than what they had anticipated.
Although the construction on Jayhawk Boulevard and
Daisy Hill will be done before classes begin Monday, construction on the new School of Business — Capitol Federal Hall — has closed down the sidewalk between Watkins Memorial Health Center and the Robinson Center.
Young said construction crews will build a utility tunnel, which will be used for electricity and water,
at the future site of Capitol Federal Hall. There were no utilities running to the site when it was used as a recreation area for tennis and volleyball. A temporary sidewalk scheduled for Sept. 19 will be available between Watkins and Robinson.
While some students might find it inconvenient, Dharam Patel, a junior from Olathe,
said it's something they will have to deal with during the first month of school.
"I think they'll be annoyed by it, but it's not something they can't just handle or take care of." Patel said. "You've just got to show up earlier."
INTERNET
University works to improve Wi-Fi on campus
Edited by Paige Lytle
RILEY MORTENSEN news@kansan.com
While most students were enjoyying the summer months away from school, the KU Information Technology department members were taking part in student orientation to help more than 2,700 students configure their smartphones and other mobile devices to connect to Jayhawk Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi is one of the major components of academic success and students' connection can make or break an assignment or project.
David Day, director of IT External Affairs at the University, said while questions have been raised about the speed of Wi-Fi connections on campus, only a small percentage of the daily calls they receive deal with Wi-Fi at all.
"Quite frankly we haven't
heard a lot of complaints about Wi-Fi on campus. Typically when we do it's due to configuration problems and connection problems that students are having." Day said. "Going back in April, we had about 25 calls to our customer service center related to Wi-Fi. The majority of those were related to configuration of a particular device. That 25 calls related to Wi-Fi service is very low compared to other issues and other calls we get on campus."
Day said he did hear of several inquiries about wireless service in Allen Fieldhouse and Green Hall, but in both cases the department made changes and added access points to try to improve connectivity.
"With Allen Fieldhouse, it was related to specifically the areas where students camp out and that's kind of gray area with us because with
wireless on campus our main focus is on providing great Wi-Fi service in academic buildings." Day said.
"We've really been working on this for about two and a half years ... focusing on expanding Wi-Fi on campus."
DAVID DAY
Director of IT External Affairs
Day said IT has not made more of an investment in those areas that are mostly for recreational use, but they do understand that while students are camping out for basketball tickets many choose to study and need Internet access, which is why they've made investments to provide some coverage there.
Several projects to add more coverage on campus
are underway and students should see improvements by the end of the semester.
The IT department is currently finishing up initial upgrades in almost all academic buildings on campus.
"So we've really been working on this for about two and a half years and we're really focusing on expanding Wi-Fi on campus and you'll see a whole list of places where we've completed upgrades and expansion and added Wi-Fi," Day said. "This last two and a half years was really a push at making some really significant upgrades in academic buildings: the libraries, Kansas Union and places where students study and congregate and where classes are being held."
IT is currently working on upgrades at the Spencer Research Library and a few
outdoor areas, which they expect to be completed during the fall semester. Specifically, Student Senate leaders have spoken to their department about the outdoor area behind Wescoe Hall and the corridor between Anschutz Library and the Military Sciences building.
"That's an area where students are increasingly going to study and congregate and, you know, jump on their laptops between classes and that kind of stuff, so that's another area where we're focusing right now." Day said.
As far as comparing KU's wireless service to other universities, Day said this is difficult because there is no measurement that can be used fairly used. The structure of the building or layout of the campus can affect service.
"Our focus is not necessarily
SEE WI-FI PAGE 2A
PLACES THE UNIVERSITY IS EXPANDING WIFI
Updates in the last two years:
1. Libraries
2. Kansas Union
5. Corridor between Anschutz Library and the Military Sciences building
4. Spencer Research Library
In the future:
3. Outdoor area behind Wescoe Hall
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE.MAPS
Index ARTS/FEATURES 1B CRYPTOQUIPS 3B SPORTS 1C CROSSWORD 3B OPINION 4A SUDOKU 3B
SPANISH
AMY ROSSOMONDO
Associate professor
of Spanish
the program.
Amy Rossomondo, associate professor of Spanish, said the decision to implement Accesso in course material was an initiative of the Spanish and Portuguese department. She said professors felt commercial materials were lacking in content that was important for students to consider as they were learning Spanish.
"We were ending up losing 10 or 15 minutes of class time ... with all of this switching."
Acceso online textbooks move Spanish classes to computer labs
"A lot of students find it to be challenging and different than what they expect, but overall they are more successful both in terms of the grades that they're earning and quality of the language they're acquiring
DAVID HURTADO
news@kansan.com
Accesso, a web-based platform developed in 2009 to act as an alternative to textbooks, has garnered $500,000 in savings on textbooks since its launch. In the five years since its inception, more than 3,000 intermediate-level Spanish students at the University and hundreds more across the country have benefited from
Don't Forget
A program developed at the University intended to replace learning from traditional textbooks with online content has made changes for the fall semester.
Buy your textbooks.
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2014 The University Daily Kansan
SEE ONLINE PAGE 19A
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