The UND Student Senate  discussed a variety of future plans for UND at a meeting this past Sunday. One major topic was the ongoing UND Space Utilization Study.

Laurie Betting, UND’s associate vice president for health and wellness, and Dave Chakraborty,  UND’s associate vice president for facilities, updated the student senators on the progress of the study.

The main point of the study is to utilize campus space efficiently in order to create an exceptional UND facility for students’ use. That study is being combined with other studies including a classroom utilization study, a library study and a study on the UND School of Business and Public Administration to make a master plan.

The library section of the study is looking at implementing more group study spaces so students can work in groups without disturbing individual study. Food was said to be important for a productive study environment, so they are working on putting some sort of vendor inside the library as well, although no specific place was stated at the meeting.

There are a few short-term projects that can be completed, but the master plan will not be finalized until after a new UND president is selected.

“I think our campus is heading in the right direction,” Betting said.

One of the hardest parts of the master plan study is deciding which buildings to renovate, as there are insufficient funds to fix all of them. The process will help the researchers decide what exactly in most need of improvement.

Chakraborty said there is $6 million in available funds for classroom and space improvement. There are a total of 26 academic buildings on the UND campus, totaling two million square feet of space, and there is a grand total of 6.5 million square feet of building space overall at the university.

The university’s goal is to have 100 classrooms improved by 2020, which equals out to be 20 classrooms a year, starting next year.

All the buildings on campus are currently being analyzed, with attention to aesthetics, building functioning and energy efficiency. The researchers will be looking at new flooring, new paint and new heating and cooling systems, among other things. If the building is past a certain age, UND see if there is a need to remove asbestos or other related hazards.

The researchers are also looking at the amount of learning environments that are available to students. These are study spaces around campus, including the library and new Wilkerson Commons. Many student senate members agree that there is currently enough study space, but the researchers ultimately are trying to find out the opinion of the student body as a whole. 

During their time to speak, the researchers stressed how they needed engaged students to be involved in the choosing process so that they know what buildings need the most attention. Their goal is to fix it to provide the most successful and positive learning environment possible.

The researchers are planning to implement a classroom polling system. They are working on a short survey that will ask students about their favorite classrooms and which classrooms need improvement.

There will be open forums for students to share their opinions on Thursday, October 22nd in Swanson Hall. Presentations will be held at 11:30 a.m., 1:30, and 4:30 p.m., but if students have extra time in between classes, the project team will be stationed there from 11am-5pm.

The Master Plan draft report is projected to be completed by February 2016 and construction should start soon after.

Journey Gontjes is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]