Brandeis University

Office of the Executive Vice President
and Chief Operating Officer

MEMORANDUM

It has been a remarkably busy summer here on campus, and I would like to provide the community with an update on several projects and initiatives just completed, underway, or currently being planned.

To go immediately to information about specific projects, please use these links:

Major Capital Projects:

• The Schneider Building for the Heller School for Social Policy and Management
• Renovation and Addition to the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex
• Usdan Phase 1 renovation: One-Stop Student Services Center
• Infrastructure Renewal Project

Other Projects and Initiatives:

• Fitness Center at the Village
• Recreation Center at the Usdan Student Center
• New Tennis Courts
• New Superconducting Magnet Facility
• Be WISE Initiative on Computer Security and Virus Protection
• Edmond J. Safra Center for the Fine Arts

As in the past, this and previous memos can be viewed by clicking on the Documents link on the website of the Office of the EVP/COO .

Capital Projects

In my May 7 memo, I provided an update on three major gift-funded capital projects approved by the Board of Trustees: the Schneider Building for the Heller School for Social Policy and Management; renovation and addition to the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex (the former American Jewish Historical Society Building); and the first phase of renovation of Usdan Student Center. I also provided a preview of planned work in the first phase of the major infrastructure renewal project, which I had first presented in my January 20 memo. The infrastructure renewal project is being funded by Trustee-approved University debt. The latest update on these projects and information about other projects and initiatives follows.

The Schneider Building at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management

In June, Kyu Sung Woo, the project architect, completed schematic design for the Schneider Building for the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. The Schneider Building is expected to add just over 30,000 square feet to the Heller School. The schematic design, in essence, addresses how the programmatic spaces identified by the Heller School will be incorporated and organized within the building. In the current phase of design, design development, the architect is adding details, building on the basics agreed upon in schematic design. Some of these basics include a focus on sustainable (i.e., environmentally friendly) design, accessibility for all users, and appropriate technology in support of teaching, learning, and research at the School. A central feature of the Schneider Building will be the "forum," a three-story central space that will provide a prime venue for lectures, presentations, and events. The forum will also include a café and grouped lounge seating on several levels. Construction is currently expected to begin in spring 2005, and building occupancy is expected in spring 2006.

Renovation and Addition to the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex

Renovation and addition to the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex is close to completion. The 17,500 square foot building will house the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life, the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, the International Investigative Journalism Program, faculty offices, the Mandel Center for Jewish Education, and the Education Program. The Complex will also provide a fully multimedia-equipped distance-learning classroom, two seminar rooms, conference room and meeting space, and a graduate-student study area. With the planned 2,250 square foot addition, the entire building will, for the first time, be fully handicapped-accessible. Occupancy of the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex is expected in the second week of September.

Usdan Phase 1 Renovation: One-Stop Student Services Center

The first phase of work in the renovation of the Usdan Student Center began on schedule, late June. This first phase involves the creation of a portion of the planned one-stop student services center, which has been identified by Jean Eddy, Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment, as the highest priority for the Usdan Student Center . The one-stop center will provide students with convenient, single-point access to a full range of student administrative services. A new home for the Office of Residence Life is being created on the first floor of Usdan, and the lower lobby will become the New International Lounge, replacing the International Lounge. The architect for this project is Miller Dyer Spears, and Elaine Construction is providing construction management. From the start of construction, the work is expected to last approximately five months. The first phase of renovation of the Usdan Student Center is expected to be complete before the start of the spring 2005 semester.

Infrastructure Renewal Project

In my May 10 memo, I reported on preparations for the first phase of work in connection with the $25M Infrastructure Renewal Project. The Infrastructure Renewal Project is being funded by Trustee-approved University debt. The annual cost of this debt is expected to be fully funded by the savings resulting from no longer needing to carry out emergency repairs to the extent required in recent years.

The components of the infrastructure renewal project include:

• Residence Halls Fire Safety
• Electric Network
• Steam Network
• Water System
• Roofs
• Roadways and Pedestrian Safety
• Classrooms

Following are brief status reports for each of the categories within the Infrastructure Renewal Project, highlighting the work successfully accomplished this summer:

Residence Halls Fire Safety
Though all University residence halls are fully code-compliant, the University's highest priority for the infrastructure renewal project is to accelerate upgrades to these systems to bring them up to the latest standards for fire-safety. Eleven residence halls were upgraded this summer. These include: East Quad; Shapiro A and B and Deroy in Massell Quad; Rosenthal Quad; Ziv 130; and Charles River 164 and 178. This brings to over 50 percent the portion of the University's housing stock meeting the latest fire protection system standards.

Steam Network
This summer, two primary segments of the steam network were identified as the highest priorities for improvement. These segments run: 1) from in front of Rabb to the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex, at the north end of campus, and 2) from the Science Center to in front of Gryzmish, in the center of campus. This summer, work was also carried out on the segment running from the central steam plant to the Science Center, an additional first-priority segment, to repair condensate leaks resulting in considerable water loss.

This fall, two steam-absorption chillers will be replaced (one is non-functional, the other is failing and operating at reduced capacity) with electrical centrifugal chillers. These chillers will support critical loads in the Science Center. Electric chillers are less costly than steam-absorption absorbers, both with respect to initial capital cost, and with respect to ongoing operating cost.

Electric Network
This summer, several transformers were replaced, including one of the main transformers and associated switch gear in the campus electrical system. To increase efficiency in the University's use of electricity, a capacitor bank for power factor correction is also to be procured, with a goal of installation in spring 2005.

Water
It was determined in early planning work for the Residence Halls Fire Safety project that the campus water system provided insufficient pressure to support the planned fire protection system upgrades in the University's residence halls. To remedy this, cleaning and relining of a portion of the main water loop was carried out this past spring, and a significant improvement in pressure was realized as a result.

This summer, several additional changes to the University's water system were carried out. These include: relining the remainder of the main water loop and creating two new sub-loops, one between the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Campus Center and Spingold Theater and one near Massell and Rosenthal Quads, to increase reliability and capacity in these areas.

Roofs
In preparation for roof replacements and repairs, a more detailed survey than was available in the past was carried out for all Brandeis roofs. Based on this survey, for summer 2004, twelve roofs identified as being in failure mode were replaced and a number of additional roofs were partially replaced and repaired. These include roofs on Foster Bio-Medical, Pearlman, Feldberg, Shiffman, Spingold Theater, Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Faculty Center , Rosenstiel, Olin Sang, Friedland, Foster, Usdan, Rosenthal North, Rosenthal South, Rosenthal East, Mailman Stairwells, Irving including Crossover, and Gryzmish. Repair work on twenty additional roofs has begun and will continue through October.

Roadways and Pedestrian Safety
This summer, E-Lot was reconfigured and restriped to increase parking capacity. Additional parking spaces were also added in T-Lot and sidewalks were created in T-Lot to improve the pedestrian path leading from the train station to the International Business School. (This fall, the staircase leading from X-Lot to T-Lot will be rebuilt, as part of that same initiative.)

In Fellows Garden, the campus�s central pedestrian spine running through the Garden was widened, and drainage problems that have been obstructing paths after heavy rains were corrected at the north end of Fellows Garden. In the courtyard west of the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Campus Center, paths were reconfigured to accommodate service to the building, and new paths and plantings were added to improve the connection between Sherman Hall/Hassenfeld Conference Center and the main east-west path in that part of campus.

Also in this component of the Infrastructure Renewal Project, the comprehensive campus signage project is set to begin at the start of the fall semester. The signage project will create standards for a broad range of sign types. Based on those standards, the University expects to put in place new signs ranging from the front entrance directional and events signs to individual building identification signs and many others.

Classrooms
Dean Adam Jaffe, assisted by a faculty advisory committee and after consultation with all concerned, finalized his recommendations for work this past summer. This work constitutes a pilot project in which six flat-floor classrooms and seminar rooms are being renovated and upgraded at different levels of implementation of the recently developed standards for Brandeis classrooms. These six rooms included: Lown 302; Olin-Sang 116, 201, 212; Pearlman 203; and Shiffman 216. Technology capabilities in all six rooms are identical.

The Registrar has ensured that as wide a range as possible of faculty and disciplines have classes in the pilot project classrooms this fall. Feedback from faculty and students using these six rooms will provide a basis for subsequent development of recommendations for the next phase of work in the Classroom Improvement Project.

Other Initiatives

Fitness Center at the Village

The new Fitness Center at the Village was successfully completed on schedule this summer, and is ready for use. The Fitness Center is open for use by all members of the Brandeis community. The Center provides several types of exercise equipment, including treadmills, cross trainers, Lifecycles, and exercise mats.

Recreation Center at Usdan Student Center

The new Recreation Center in Usdan Student Center has been created with funding provided by the Student Union. While the University's future plans for renovation of Usdan are expected to include additional improvements to the Recreation Center, much of the credit goes to Danny Silverman �05 for spearheading the early creation of this new facility, which provides pool tables, table tennis, air hockey, dart boards, card tables, a variety of video games, and comfortable seating.

New Tennis Courts

In response to priorities articulated by Jean Eddy, Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment, the University has been exploring the feasibility of adding two new outdoor tennis courts at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. This project has been approved, and construction began on August 23. The new courts will be located adjacent to the existing Reiger Tennis Courts, replacing a small portion of the lower visitor parking lot. A small number of the lost spaces will be replaced adjacent to the new courts, and options are being considered for replacing all spaces and adding to capacity near Gosman. The new tennis courts will provide the Athletic Department with six adjacent tennis courts and twelve tennis courts overall, allowing for greater flexibility in scheduling and hosting matches and tournaments. Construction of the new courts is expected to be complete by the end of September. At the same time, the four existing tennis courts adjacent to the lower visitor parking lot are being reconstructed, so that all six of these courts will have an identical surface.

New Superconducting Magnet Facility

Last year, the University received a grant award of two million dollars from the National Institutes of Health for the purchase of a new superconducting magnet. The University has a number of other such units, which are used as research tools by the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry. This new unit will allow faculty in those departments to expand the scope of their research.

A new facility for this research tool will be built adjacent to the Nessel Academic Center (the Golding Health Center), in the space framed by Nessel/Golding, Stoneman, and Mailman. The University has engaged Payette Associates Architects, who have successfully designed many such facilities, to design the new Brandeis facility.

The current schedule calls for construction of the new facility to begin toward the end of 2004. As with any construction project, there will be some noise and disturbance in the early phases of construction, particularly as excavation is carried out, and as the structure of the building is created. As more detailed plans develop and as the schedule is refined, I will be updating the University community to keep all apprised of plans for this new facility.

Be WISE Inititative on Computer Security and Virus Protection

In his August 25, 2004 Letter to the Brandeis University Community, Perry Hanson, Chief Information Officer and Associate Provost for Academic Technology, introduced the Be WISE Initiative on Computer Security and Virus Protection. I want to endorse this initiative and encourage every member of our community to engage actively in being WISE by W orking with Information Technology Services to ensure that you follow computer usage and security guidelines, by I nstalling updates and protective software, by S taying alert, and by E xpecting further change. Incessant computer attacks pose a threat to the community and require your attention. If you have questions please refer to the updated ITS BeWise website.

Edmond J. Safra Center for the Fine Arts

The University has begun planning for the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Fine Arts. The Safra Center is envisioned as a state-of-the-art facility supporting both art history and the teaching and practice of studio arts in a broad range of media. The Safra Center is expected to combine new construction with possible renovation of some or all of Goldman-Schwartz and Pollack. A project advisory committee has been assembled; the first task of the committee will be to work with the soon-to-be selected programming-phase architect to recommend the types and quantities of spaces that should be included in the Safra Center . Once the program for the Center has been developed, a design architect will be selected for the project, which is expected to be carried out in phases, with new construction to take place first, and renovation to follow. Design should begin early in 2005 and the current very preliminary schedule anticipates a start of construction in mid-2006 and completion of the new construction phase by fall 2007.

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Questions?

If you have questions about capital projects, please contact Dan Feldman, Associate Vice President for Planning, Design, and Construction, at x6-8405 or by email to feldman@brandeis.edu. More information about capital projects can be found on the website of the Office of Capital Projects, at www.brandeis.edu/capitalprojects.

For questions about the Infrastructure Renewal Project, please contact Mark Collins, Associate Vice President for University Services, at x6-4564 or by email to collins@brandeis.edu.

If you have questions about Information Technology Services and the Be WISE Initiative, please contact Perry Hanson, Chief Information Officer and Associate Provost for Academic Technology, at x6-4588 or by email to phanson@brandeis.edu. Details about getting services from Information Technology Services can be found on the ITS website.

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