By Kristin Edwards

An eight to ten month process to redesign specific areas of the Sam Houston campus started recently when JJR, Inc. hosted two forums to gauge student reaction to their plans thus far.

According to campus planner Cory Gallo, the bulk of the changes made to the campus will be accommodations for the growing student body.

“We're at Sam Houston because of the amount of growth four years ago,” he said. “(There was) a request for companies like us to come up with a master plan – and we do work on campuses all over the country. We’re specialists.”

According to the Houstonian, the expiring master plan, Y2K + 10, was written by Ralph D. Spencer Sr. as an extension of his original plan from 1982. JJR, Inc. will be developing a new plan over time, gathering information useful to its development through means similar to the forums.

"This isn’t something that can just be accomplished over night, because campuses are like small cities," Gallo said. "You'll have all the issues of parking, traffic and development to consider

Student population

One concern for the planning is the current student population – it has risen to over 16,000 students this year alone.

According to Jim Gaertner, university president, the recent sharp rise in population has made a revised master plan necessary before the standing one ends.
"We've grown so rapidly," he said. "I think enrollment is going to go up even more than it already has. We're not too far out of Houston, and Houston's growing rapidly. We're poised to take advantage of it."

Students with disabilities

Another concern mentioned in the forums was campus compliance with the American Disabilities Act. According to Gaertner, Sam Houston follows the requirements, despite complaints.
"It should be a concern - it should be a major concern and we want to be sure we address it,” he said. “The thing that complicates it is the hilliness of the campus. A lot of campuses do not have these beautiful hills and because we have them it exacerbates the problem."

Campus planner Timothy Rorvig said the primary planning procedure, which will integrate input and concerns of the student body, is a vital part of the company’s planning process.

“These forums have been very telling to us,” he said. “If we didn’t take the time to consider what students need, we wouldn’t be making changes of the greatest benefit to the students who need them.”

The importance of planning

Keeping campus amenities up to current standards while constantly having to consider student body growth drives the university to plan construction projects carefully.

"A lot of people that preceded us were very conscientious our master plans," Gaertner said. "Now it's our turn. In ten or twenty years, we want people to come to this campus and literally be taken aback.

“Our goal is to have visitors that walk onto this campus and say 'What a fine, well thought-out campus you’ve built'."

Spencer's original plan called for seven parking garages, renovations and additions to existing buildings, additional dormitories, a new recreational building and street modifications.
Completed construction projects under the old master plan are the campus Mall Area, baseball/softball complexes, the bell tower, Bearkat Village, Raven Village, Sam Houston Village, the Strength and Fitness Center and Health and Kinesiology Center, the Visitors/Alumni Center, South Paw and a parking garage.

Projects in progress include Academic Building V and the Bearkat Camp, with plans for a Performing Arts Center and another dining facility within the next two years.

The cost of construction

Construction and renovations suggested in the master plans are funded by several different ways. One of the primary means of paying for campus improvements is to draw from the Higher Education Assistance Fund, known as HEAF. The fund requires specific parameters be met before money is granted, and is highly relied on to fund permanent capital improvements for public universities.

Tuition bonds and savings from past budgets can also contribute to new construction.