Lawrence Today magazine, Summer 2009
DEAR LAWRENTIANS,
“It’s a more cohesive campus environment.” These words were spoken to me recently by some of the lively and cordial alumni who were in Appleton recently to enjoy Reunion Weekend. Lawrence graduates were commenting on how the campus feels to them, following a tour of construction and renovation projects designed to connect areas of the campus with each other and build a sense of a more unified physical environment. Although Lawrence is a relatively small campus, it is benefiting from a new hub, more pedestrian routes and investment in key buildings.
By far the largest project, the Richard and Margot Warch Campus Center, is nearly complete. Equipment and furnishings are being delivered and installed, landscaping is taking shape and preparations are under way for a grand-opening celebration and dedication in the fall. This building, with almost 20 years of planning and 18 months of construction, will become the campus hub. Its post office, dining areas, cinema and convenience store are only some of the reasons why faculty, students and staff will visit the Warch Campus Center daily.
How will Lawrentians get there? One possible route will be via a new Riverwalk that will connect the easternmost edge of the campus and Trever Hall with the Warch Campus Center, and then progress on to the Sustainable Lawrence University Garden (SLUG). This interpretive Riverwalk — designed with signs that will share information about the history of the Fox River and its relationship to the city and the college — will bring the river that runs through Lawrence into sharp focus. Conceived and designed by environmental studies students and Associate Professor of Geology Andrew Knudsen, with additional research conducted by students of Associate Professor of History Monica Rico, the project enables the intellectual pursuits of faculty and students to resonate in our physical environment and to leave an important legacy. The Riverwalk will lead past SLUG to the Gilboy Council Ring, a new outdoor gathering space conducive to teaching, meeting and discussion.
Another way to reach the Warch Campus Center will be via a pedestrian walk created from the former E. John Street, now named E. Boldt Way, in honor of Patricia Hamar Boldt ’48 and O.C. Boldt. Beginning at Meade Street, the East Boldt Way pedestrian walkway extends past the Warch Campus Center. After reaching the Warch Campus Center, you will see the magnificent Hurvis Crossing, a landscaped bridge over Lawe Street. With this new east-west axis through campus, there is an increased sense of the east and west sections of the campus being part of a unified whole. Now, Trever Hall is no longer a “suburb.”
Once pedestrians have traversed Hurvis Crossing, which makes Lawe Street underneath fairly invisible to them, they will continue onto a new, enlarged walkway passing between Memorial Union and the Wriston amphitheatre. Sorely needed for both safety and maintenance reasons, the expanded walkway is slated to be completed by the time students return to campus in the fall. This walkway will allow for the fluid passage of increased pedestrian traffic to and from the Warch Campus Center, and enhance the aesthetics of the amphitheatre itself through the addition of a row of planters that will separate it partially from the walkway.
These new east-west pedestrian corridors are complemented by a revitalization of the north-south walkway that leads from the Conservatory across College Avenue to Main Hall. This path will be beautified with a new garden median on College Avenue. Funded with private dollars and with the assistance of the City of Appleton and our historic neighborhood, the College Avenue Median Garden will first and foremost improve safety for the Lawrentians who cross this busy street hundreds of times each day. Those driving through our campus on College Avenue will see new, lighted signage at each end of the median making it clear that they are visiting LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY.
With the opening of the Warch Campus Center, Memorial Union’s purpose will shift to become much-needed academic space, with the addition of four new classrooms and additional faculty offices. (The Viking Room on the lower level will remain in place and in operation.) The renovation of the union embodies one of our key working principles this year — to support and enhance the academic core of Lawrence — which must be central especially in challenging economic times.
Another of our historic buildings, Memorial Chapel, is receiving focused attention this summer in order to preserve its structural viability and iconic beauty. Exterior maintenance and repairs have begun, and a plan to replace the ceiling’s infrastructure, with some additional improvements through painting and lighting, will improve not only the safety and strength of the ceiling but the attractiveness of the chapel’s interior.
Each of these projects was designed to work in harmony with the others, reinforcing some of Lawrence’s most important traditions and facilitating the work of our learning community of scholars and artists. Especially during times such as these, it is important that Lawrence maintain its identity as a stimulating and supportive residential campus. We are exceedingly grateful for the continued support of our alumni, who are making these improvements possible and sustaining the quality of teaching, living and learning on the Lawrence campus.
You’ll see and hear more about these projects and our “more cohesive campus environment” in the fall issue of Lawrence Today. However, if you are near Appleton this summer, I encourage you to visit campus for your own walk and look.
Have a wonderful summer,
Jill Beck, President
