August 15, 2005

At the onset of the 2005-06 school year, a new 24-hour computer lab and several other completed renovations campuswide are ready to greet another record studen body projected to be approximately 7,500 this fall.

The 18-station computer lab will operate in the Health and Safety Center while a new wireless network will be accessible from the Davidson Student Center, Schwob Memorial Library, Center for Commerce and Technology and The Georgia Law Enforcement Command College.

Both developments are supported in part by student technology fees and have been driven by student demand, said Computer Information Networking Services Executive Director Bill Johnson, who serves as an adviser to the Student Technology Advisory Committee.

The fall 2005 semester also marks the openings of a new International House and CSU Soccer Complex. Meanwhile, smaller renovations include a pool at Courtyard I, a softball field grandstand, parking and landscaping at Clearview Circle and the re-establishment of the Lindsay Mock Pavilion adjacent to the recently re-designated intramural field.

Much of the impact, particularly from the Clearview Circle-area upgrades, will improve traffic flow and better connect campus for both vehicle and pedestrian traffic, said CSU Construction Manager Mike Medlock. For example, renovated and new, well-lighted walkways include a path from main campus to Courtyard I housing. Also, newly-painted guide stripes will accommodate on-street parking and new parking lot entrance/exit ways inside Clearview Circle create a connecting thru-way for the circles one-way traffic flow.

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE
Located at 6 Clearview Circle , the International House consolidates the Center for International Education and CSUs International Student Affairs. The latter has functioned within the university's student affairs division in the Davidson Student Center - apart from the Howard Hall-based CIE and its study abroad, visiting scholar and international studies certificate programs.

The new setting, which includes a 42-space parking lot that also provides intramural field access, sharply contrasts the CIEs original home, a Howard Hall office suite designed to accommodate primarily a director and secretary.

Upon entering the International House, a reception lounge staffed with student assistants will lead to a library and video-screening room; a conference/reception room and a lecture hall to accommodate multimedia presentations and lectures. Along with the aesthetics, said CIE Director Neal McCrillis, the functionality of the International House will enhance:

CSUs advocacy and support for international students.
Cross-cultural interaction with the off-campus community through outreach programs.
The university's attractiveness to top, prospective international scholars for visiting professor positions in the European and Latin American studies programs.
International and domestic student recruiting

Potential new programs, said McCrillis, include international student visits to area schools and development of a host family network for international students.

McCrillis said the International House spearheads an initiative to internationalize the campus. Most significantly, we want to bring international students and U.S. students together in learning and social environments. Moreover, we will have the space to conduct all kinds of activities on-site for both groups of students.

Staff in the International House will facilitate advising, orientation and visa compliance and guide extracurricular programming for CSUs increasing international student body, representing 40 countries. We had 117 international students in spring 2005 and we will seek to continue to increase that total in order to bring international students into every classroom, McCrillis said.

Many such students will participate in International Club weekly meetings, open to all students, and featuring intercultural-themed musical performances among various presentations. Additional activities will include Diversity Week and Chinese New Year celebrations.

Complementary to a progressive international studies agenda, CSUs International House, physically, is unique in the University System of Georgia. Georgia Tech eventually will represent an exception, having announced in August 2003 a fund-raising plan to build its own International House. Nationally, the international house concept tends to be applied on larger campuses of major universities.

CSUs International House has been partially funded thanks to the university's Investment in People capital campaign, through the Mildred Miller Fort Foundation whose gift launched CSUs Center for International Education in 1998.

SOCCER COMPLEX
Following an inaugural season at the Woodruff Farm Soccer Complex, the Lady Cougar soccer program will open its second season at the new CSU soccer complex off Algonquin Drive at the former intramural field/Mock Pavilion site. CSU will host five other soccer programs in the first Cougar Invitational the weekend of Sept. 2.

Spectators will find a well-lighted 114-space parking lot and walkways accessing a 350-seat bleacher grandstand with restroom and concession facilities. The complex, surrounding the regulation-sized field , will also feature an electronic scoreboard, press box and separate, handicapped parking access. A soccer center, cross-field from the bleachers, will house coaches offices, locker rooms, a training room and meeting room, and be served by separate parking.

The complex is designed to accommodate future expansion. Bleacher seating, for example, can be doubled easily from its base, said Medlock.

MORE CONSTRUCTION/RENOVATION UPDATES

Cunningham Center: A 250-space parking lot, at the old soccer field, will open in September, as will a connecting road to the lower Richards parking lot. Also, new landscaping will enhance the pedestrian path behind Ragsdale Field

Courtyard I: A pool replacement will include increased, multi-level lounging space. The 20-by-40-foot pool, surrounded by a 10-foot-wide concrete deck, will accommodate water volleyball. And, an adjoined 10-by-40-foot sunning shelf in 18 inches of water will lie below a dry, elevated deck.

Mock Pavilion: The Lindsay Mock Pavilions relocation next to the intramural field, off Clearview Circle, is scheduled to be complete by November.

Lady Cougar Softball Field: A concrete base has been established for a future, 350-seat bleacher grandstand behind home plate.

Ragsdale Field: A new outfield drainage system will be installed to eliminate standing water and flocking ducks after heavy rainfall.

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Contacts: Neal McCrills, 565-4036 regarding International House Mike Medlock, 568-2009 or John Lester , regarding all other renovation projects