The latest addition to the quad at Slippery Rock University is the Science and Technology Building, foreground. The $14.5 million building, which will open this summer, includes a 350-seat auditorium and laptop accessible classrooms. It also will house a weather station, robotics center and labs for chemistry, physics, geology and geography. The building will include a geographic information systems lab.

SLIPPERY ROCK — With more than $120 million in building going on now, Slippery Rock University in the past five years has experienced one of the largest periods of construction in the school's history.

The projects include a $110 million student housing project and a $14.5 million Science and Technology Building, slated to open this summer.

At the same time, plans for a new student union and performing arts center are starting to take shape. Student surveys revealed a majority of the campus community would prefer a new union instead of renovating the existing one.

The SRU Council of Trustees made a capital funding request related to a performing arts center and a feasibility study for that building will begin soon.

While these plans are still up in the air, few can argue the face of the campus has changed in recent years. Some recent larger projects include:

The Slippery Rock University Foundation is in charge of the $110 million residence hall replacement project, which began last spring.The project is among the largest of its kind in the country. It is a fast-track program, with construction taking place in a relatively short period of time.Of the 2,800 beds on campus, 2,200 will be replaced by the project. Phase 1 will involve 1,390 beds in four buildings.The first part of that phase will be completed in August and will be ready for students to move in.The commons will be done in January 2007, the second half of phase 1 will be done in August 2007 and phase 2, involving 800 beds, will be done in August 2008.Founders Hall will be the first current student housing building to be torn down. The remaining dormitories will follow, with just Rhoades and North halls standing for use.In each of the new rooms, no student will share a bedroom or bathroom with more than one other student.The new residence hall design is based on student surveys taken since 2003. Students were overwhelmingly against the current design of most of the university dorms, with long halls with rooms on either side and gang bathrooms at the end of the hall.Other differences of the halls with the current dormitories will be a commons area with a convenience store, an elevator, air conditioning, laundry room and kitchen on each floor, and increased security procedures, including a card that will allow students into their rooms instead of a key.

The Science and Technology Building is in front of the main entrance to campus, completing the oval of academic buildings on the quad.The $14.5 million building should be finished this spring and ready for use this summer, according to Herb Carlson, assistant vice president of facilities and planning.Delays related to state funding and construction issues pushed back the original completion date, which was fall 2005. The building was expected to open this semester to students.The three-story building will include a 350-seat auditorium and laptop accessible classrooms.Technology will include a weather station, robotics center and labs for chemistry, physics, geology and geography.The building will also include a geographic information systems lab.

The $5.5 million physical therapy building opened in 2001. It includes three stories, 45,000 square feet and replaces temporary classrooms and many other inadequate spaces that were used by physical therapy staff and students for years.The building features smart classrooms, which include Internet capabilities, faculty offices, and labs for classes and research, including a cadaver lab.

Carlson and other SRU staff members will revisit the university's master plan soon to see what project will be next in line.Many projects are planned, but what to start first is a complicated question, Carlson said."There are lots of sequencing issues involved," he said. "There are a lot of things that interrelate to each other."Among the upcoming projects is a new student union, a concept introduced by President Bob Smith and supported recently by a student vote.Faced with the choice of renovating the current union or building a new one, students in a survey opted for a new union.Questions related to building the union are numerous, including how it will be financed, where it will be built and what to do with the current union.Meanwhile, SRU trustees recently submitted a capital budget request to the state for $25.9 million for a performing arts center.The details of what will be included in the building, where it will be located and what it will look like haven't been decided yet.The university plans to choose a firm soon to do a feasibility study to answer those questionsAfter the new facility is built, Miller Auditorium would likely be demolished.The university foundation also bought 36 acres from the Vincent family on Route 108. That property adjoins campus and may be leased to the university and used for building, Carlson said.Another possible use for the property is a new driveway into the campus, which would relieve some traffic concerns in the downtown.These recent plans have been easier on university staff than in the past, according to Carlson and Smith.In January 2000, the State System of Higher Education, which oversees 14 state universities, including SRU, told the university to start over with building planning, Smith has said.Instead of telling the state universities what and where to build, those decisions were handed over to university cabinet members.That is when the university's master plan was developed. Carlson has described the plan as an "evolving document," with plenty of changes happening in the past six years.Creating that master plan involved consulting students, faculty, staff, trustees, and community members, he said.Adding to the master plan means not only keeping an eye on the need for new buildings but checking infrastructure, pedestrian and vehicle circulation, and which buildings need refurbishing.Items in the plan often depend on different funding sources, which must be taken into consideration, he said.SRU is lucky in that it has a decent reserve fund ready for the improvements that were needed right away, Carlson said. The bigger projects in recent years, including the science building, rely on state money.

<b>Number of students: </b>About 8,000<b>Number of faculty:</b> 405<b>Founded:</b> 1889<b>Degree programs: </b>More than 60<b>Acres on campus: </b>600

Construction progresses on the first of several student housing projects at Slippery Rock University. The $110 million residence hall replacement project, which began last spring, will replace 2,200 of the 2,800 beds on campus. The new housing will more closely resemble apartments than the traditional dormitories with long halls and common bathrooms.

The new $14.5 million Science and Technology Building dominates the main entrance to the Slippery Rock University campus. It also completes the oval of academic buildings ringing the perimeter of the quad. The building is expected to be available for use this summer. Originally, the building was to be finished this past fall.