Hey all…and now for something completely different. That is, non-College of Business stuff. I actually began writing this post a few weeks ago, but I needed to clarify some info. Then the College of Business stuff exploded and I put this on the back burner.
On October 26th representatives from English, History, Modern Languages, and Math (Math dept. was not in attendance) met with LAS Dean Zayaitz and Ass’t Dean Rauenzhan to discuss what’s up with the timeline for the “New Lytle.” For those of us who reside in this architectural remnant of 1960s functionalism (aka the movement to make all state buildings look like housing projects), we have been waiting quite patiently and have put up with our share of building issues. You might even go as far as to say we feel we deserve a new building.
At our November department meeting, we learned a little bit about the Administration’s plans for the New Lytle–what’s being referred to as the North Campus Academic Building. At this point I think it’s fair to say that many if not most of us Lytlers are somewhere between skeptical and pissed.
Here’s some of what’s included in the Administration’s current plans:
- one (1) computer lab
- 16 classrooms of approximately 2000 square feet with a capacity of up to 50 students (double the size of the Lytle’s current classrooms), some of which will have electronic divider doors
- suite (aka bullpen) offices for temporary/adjunct faculty
I contacted LAS Dean, Anne Zayaitz, to see make sure I had the details right and it seems what is listed above is pretty much on target. She did say, however, that what was discussed at the meeting was a “feasibility study” not a detailed architectural design: “This implies ‘footprint’ info—e.g. number of classrooms at particular sizes, number of offices at particular sizes, open spaces for student interaction, etc.” So, if we are looking at doubling the classroom size as part of a feasibility study and that is accepted, then is seems that all future architectural plans will begin from that premise.
There are two additional issues that I’ll have to take up in an additional post. First, the number of faculty to be located in the New Lytle. From what I’ve been told, the new building will house more faculty members than the current Lytle, yet there will not be a proportional increase in space (again, we are working from a feasibility study, I know). This can only mean a herding of temporary faculty members into one large, inadequate office space. Second, it seems that the Old Lytle may not go away as previously thought. The “New Lytle” is actually the “North Campus Academic Building.” It seems that despite Lytle’s persistent problems (mold, wasp infestation, and over-heated classrooms) that the plan at this point is to keep it.
Stay tuned.
