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July 18, 2007 edition TOP STORIES:
Massey Award winner Kirk Pelland has nurtured Carolina's grounds for 25 years. At times it's been like waging war on the elements.
Plans for Carolina North are still on the drawing board, but they have been whittled down from three to one. That plan — the “East-West” draft conceptual plan — will be presented to the University Board of Trustees next week. The goal of PACE is simple enough. It’s about streamlining administrative functions to free up money to support the University’s core academic priorities: teaching, research and public service. The steps needed to reach that goal extend what we already do at Carolina, said Dwayne Pinkney, assistant vice chancellor for finance and administration. “It’s about trying to do our jobs smarter,” Pinkney said. “That’s really a matter of course for our campus as we have looked for ways to do business as effectively and efficiently as possible.”
When Chris Payne hired on in fall 2000 to serve as Carolina’s director of student housing, he found himself on the cusp of what would become the most prodigious and sweeping period of campus construction in University history. That November, voters approved higher education bonds that helped fuel much of the growth, and University officials put much thought into the design, location and function of the new buildings. That thinking was captured in a new master plan approved the following spring. The plan, among other things, called for a transformation of south campus that would make it as fully hospitable and service-friendly to students as it was already to hospital patients. One cornerstone of that transformation, Payne said, now stands at the corner of Manning Drive and Ridge Road in the form of the Student and Academic Services Buildings, or SASB. When the two-building complex opens this fall, it will provide an array of vital student and academic services, officially 15 in all, in a total of 116,000 square feet. The University Steering Committee for Worker Health, Safety
and Wellness has
begun distributing an Employee General Interest Survey to a random sample of “It is important that the survey reflect the opinions of every segment of the campus, and every response is extremely valuable. We want to obtain a high response rate, so we’re asking every employee who receives a survey to take a few minutes to complete it,” said Ben Birken, steering committee coordinator. At the end of the survey, respondents will have an option to enter a drawing to win a prize. CONTACT THE GAZETTE: |
SASB provides one-stop service for students When Chris Payne hired on in fall 2000 to serve as Carolina’s director of student housing, he found himself on the cusp of what would become the most prodigious and sweeping period of campus construction in University history.
That November, voters approved higher education bonds that helped fuel much of the growth, and University officials put much thought into the design, location and function of the new buildings. That thinking was captured in a new master plan approved the following spring. The plan, among other things, called for a transformation of south campus that would make it as fully hospitable and service-friendly to students as it was already to hospital patients. One cornerstone of that transformation, Payne said, now stands at the corner of Manning Drive and Ridge Road in the form of the Student and Academic Services Buildings, or SASB. When the two-building complex opens this fall, it will provide an array of vital student and academic services, officially 15 in all, in a total of 116,000 square feet. The move of the departments to the SASB will be completed by Aug. 1. It will be a student-centered facility that uses both technology and personalized services to transform the quality of support services for students. One new feature designed to benefit students right away is the Information Desk that can direct students to the office they need instead of having to go to two or three different places to find it. Even departments that are not located within the new buildings may during high-traffic periods have representatives in SASB that can answer students’ questions, Payne said. “The mix of academic and student services that will be That process dates back to 1986 when students expressed a need to bring frequently used services together in one location. What they wanted to be able to do, Payne said, is to “find it in one spot,” whatever “it” happened to be. In addition to reaffirming the need to bring frequently used services together in one location, students also identified the most common student and academic services that should be included. In addition to being a one-stop service center, the SASB will also serve as a destination point and gathering place for students on south campus, in much the same way as the nearby Rams Head Center. The Rams Head Center, which opened in spring of 2005 along Kenan Stadium’s eastern flank, was also designed as a destination point where students come together to eat, to play, to work out or just to hang out. The center includes a dining hall along with a grocery store and a recreation center that features three basketball courts, an elevated indoor track and more than 70 fitness machines, along with a two-story climbing wall and an aerobics room. Another critical component to the success of the SASB and the Rams Head Center is the concentration of student housing that has been built on south campus over the past decade, Payne said. Today, more than 5,000 of the 9,000 students living in campus housing are located within easy walking distance of both complexes. “The idea was to no longer have some parts of campus that were just residential or academic or administrative. Since the master plan was approved, we have been able to knit the campus together in such a way that there are now a mix of uses everywhere,” Payne said. “The SASB is a shining example of that successful strategy.” Payne said that the Rams Head Center and the SASB will become a center of activity for students in much the same way that The Pit and the Student Union are now, but they will supplement the facilities on north campus rather than replace them. The SASB will feature a courtyard as well as a terraced
space that would allow for performances or speeches similar to what could be
staged at the Pit. The SASB will also feature an “Upendo,” multi-purpose room
similar to the activity space on the second floor of Chase Dining Hall that was
used by the Black Student Movement as well as other “Going to the Pit and the Student Union is a unique Carolina experience. We are not going to change that. The SASB and Ram’s Head Center, however, can offer additional experiences that students can also enjoy.” The building was built for students, but Payne said it is important to remember that putting so many services under two roofs will make it easier for faculty and staff to do their jobs. It is easier to collaborate with somebody from another department, Payne said, when that department is down the hall or up the stairs. “The student experience is a very important perspective here, but the other perspective that I have learned to appreciate as I’ve worked with these departments and their transition to SASB is the interconnections that this new building will help strengthen. “Putting these departments under one roof will enhance communication, lead to higher efficiency and ultimately benefit students in terms of how the University as a whole delivers service to them,” Payne said. For information about SASB and the departments moving to the new facility, refer to sasb.unc.edu.
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