The most current blueprints for on-campus construction projects were unveiled to the University Faculty Senate yesterday in a report formulated by the Senate Committee on University Planning.
Office of Physical Plant (OPP) Associate Vice President H. Ford Stryker delivered a photo presentation, depicting the spatial organization of the various building sites.
Stryker presented plans for the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) Building, which he said will be the first energy-efficient building at University Park.
The building will have the ability to automatically adjust itself according to various weather conditions, such as closing its windows during a rainstorm.
Stryker also discussed the new Smeal College of Business building, which will contain a 150-seat auditorium, classrooms, offices, labs and a café. "It will be four stories high and beautiful," he said.
Stryker added that the building would be organized into two connecting wings.
"The left wing is for graduate students, and the undergraduate wing is on the right," he said. "There will be an atrium in the center that links the two sections."
OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin said Monday that the project will be complete in March 2005.
Also at the meeting, Kathy Kimball, director of security operations and services for Information Technology Services, gave a presentation warning of Internet viruses and other online threats.
Kimball said the sophistication of Internet attacks is increasing, which drives up remedy costs and makes it more difficult to detect and remove the attack.
"You have to have security at all levels," she said, adding that individual users as well as university networks are susceptible to attacks.
She said students must take greater measures to ensure Internet safety by installing firewalls and other protective software.
Kimball also cited increased Internet education as one way the university could enhance awareness of Internet threats and methods of protection.
"We're all in this together," she said. "We're gonna have a bumpy ride."
