Thursday, January 29, 2004

Today@Sam: 125th Celebration Impact To Last For Years

Sam Houston has been a great name in Texas education for 125 years, and the celebration of Sam Houston State University's founding will include not only one-time events but ongoing projects that will have an impact for years to come.

The planning to properly mark the inception and accomplishments of the entity that has also been known as Sam Houston Normal Institute, Sam Houston State Teachers College, and Sam Houston State College, began last summer.

That's when a 125th Anniversary Celebration Steering Committee comprised of faculty, administration, students, alumni, retirees, community leaders and friends of the university began work. A number of projects have been initiated as a result of the committee’s efforts.

A re-enactment of the signing of Sam Houston Normal Institute's charter document by Gov. Roberts, is scheduled for the steps of Austin Hall on April 21. Roberts began the first of his two terms as governor in 1879, 20 years after Sam Houston had held the same office.

For more, go to the 125th Anniversary website.

Today@Sam: COBA Breaks New Ground

Sam Houston State University's College of Business Administration broke ground Jan. 27 on an $8.3 million expansion of the Smith-Hutson Business Building. Representatives of the university's board of regents, the architects and contractors, and university officials, dug in to officially kick off the project scheduled for completion in May 2005.

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

College to break new ground

The College of Business Administration breaks ground on the expansion to the Smith-Hutson Business Building, notes today’s Houstonian:

The $8.3 million 47,475 square feet structure will add an auditorium, 15 classrooms, 39 faculty offices and two departmental suites to current space. R. Dean Lewis, dean of the College of Business Administration, said the new space scheduled for completion in May 2005 "will match our strong academic program, improve the quality of the educational experience for our students and deliver growth capabilities we currently do not have."

Sunday, January 25, 2004

Today@Sam: COBA To Break New Ground

The College of Business Administration at Sam Houston State University has come a long way since the days of Sam Houston Normal Institute, when business offerings were called "commercial courses."

COBA, as it is now known, has made great strides in curriculum, faculty and respect among peer institutions, culminating in its accreditation in 1996 by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Less than a third of business education programs have received that accreditation.

On Tuesday (January 27) at 9 a.m. COBA will take another great step, with groundbreaking for an expansion to the Smith-Hutson Business Building. The $8.3 million 47,475 square feet structure will add an auditorium, 15 classrooms, 39 faculty offices and two departmental suites to current space.

R. Dean Lewis, dean of the College of Business Administration, said the new space scheduled for completion in May 2005 "will match our strong academic program, improve the quality of the educational experience for our students, and deliver growth capabilities we currently do not have."

Participants in the groundbreaking in addition to Lewis will include Bobby K. Marks, SHSU president emeritus and former COBA dean, President James Gaertner, SHSU regents and university officials, architects, contractors and building committee members.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

Houstonian: Five campus construction projects to bring 'extra space' to SHSU

From the Houstonian:
One of the projects is Sam Houston Village, a new dormitory located across the street from Jackson-Shaver with a $19.3 million price tag. Physical Plant Director, Doug Greening, described the rooms as "efficiency apartment style" similar to those found in Bearkat Village, though they will not include a full kitchen. The facility will also include a parking garage underneath the main structure and enough rooms to accommodate 250 students. It is scheduled to open next August.

An addition to the Smith-Hutson Business Building costing $8.3 million will provide more classrooms and offices for use by the College of Business Administration. Greening said that this addition will help "to bring the college under one roof" since they are "scattered around the campus. They really need the extra space." The addition is scheduled to be completed by January 2005.

SouthPaw, a new eating facility located across from Academic Building 3 costing $2 million, will feature a Subway, Pizza Hut, Java City and Home Zone. SouthPaw is in its final stages of completion and is scheduled for an early February opening.

The two final projects are the $1.4 million addition to the Teacher Education Center that will open in the spring of 2005 and a $6.7 million addition to the Health and Kinesiology Center (HKC). The addition to the Teacher Education Center will feature a new counseling facility where counselors can, according to Greening, "interact with their clients and also view them by camera or by one-way mirror."

"[The HKC addition] will have an outdoor pool that will probably not be covered, a climbing wall and expanded weights facility," said Greening. "We're hoping to have an end of the year or early 2005 opening."