SRU renovations get under way
SLIPPERY ROCK — Once the spring semester was over and most students had left campus for summer vacation, Slippery Rock University got several renovation projects under way.
The biggest project this summer is a $1.1 million renovation of the Morrow Field House.
The 120,665-square-foot field house hosts a variety of sporting events on its first floor. This summer all of the rooms on its second floor are being remodeled and updated.
The second floor is home to the athletic department offices and offices and classrooms used by the physical education department.
The project is long-overdue and many of the items being replaced or renovated are more than 50 years old, said Scott Albert, assistant vice president of facilities and planning.
“The interior will look entirely different,” he said.
The rooms will be air-conditioned for the first time and all of the windows are being replaced.
Another change is that an old racquetball court is being converted into a “collaboration room” for students to study in or to hold meetings in.
In the past, physical education students would study on the bleachers during the day.
“One of their biggest concerns is there wasn’t a good study space for the PE students in-between classes in the field house,” Albert said.
The work is divided into three phases with the final phase finishing in mid-September, though the classrooms and offices will be ready to use by the first day of classes on Sept. 2.
Elsewhere on campus, SRU has been installing new signs that point to destinations around campus.
There are also renovations being done on the third floor of Bailey Library, Albert said.
The archives department area is being renovated to include an expanded work area and a new miniature classroom area where staff can have teaching sessions with students.
The Slippery Rock Municipal Authority recently finished replacing a water main on Kiester Road and the borough plans to pave its portion of that road this summer before classes resume, Albert said.
