Welcome Center

[okinawatyphoon]

A high-resolution rendering from the Valpo website.

[bbtds]

Does this website rendering cause problems for FWAlum to open on his phone?  Seems we have seen plenty of these renderings on this board.

The building does look great and modern. I can't wait too see the finished building and to be welcomed there.

[vuweathernerd]

that's a sharp looking building! i'm excited!

[FWalum]

Does this website rendering cause problems for FWAlum to open on his phone?  Seems we have seen plenty of these renderings on this board.

The building does look great and modern. I can't wait too see the finished building and to be welcomed there.

Are you insinuating that I have an out dated phone or an inadequate service provider  I am glad that I waited until I was able to open this thread on my laptop otherwise I might still be staring glassy eyed at my old iPhone.

[VULB#62]

I ran on a cinder track in high school and let me tell you, you don't want to ever fall down on it!  I think I STILL have a scab from 1971.

There are many reasons for putting in a new track, and valporun has hit on several of them.  From my standpoint, though, there are three reasons why VU should make every effort right now to put in a track:  (1) a new track was part of the long-ended FITT project, and VU has stated on many occasions that a new track is important; (2) it is a recruiting disadvantage, both to track and field recruits but probably there are some potential students (and their parents) who come here and wonder where the heck the track is, and (3) Brown Field looks silly without a track around it.

Paul

Good assessment Paul.  BTW I was part of the Darrell Zimmerman championship squads of the early 60's that ran on the cinder track at Brown Field. The FITT $$ is still there (somewhere, based on a discussion I had with Mark LaBarbera) but apparently still not enough to close the deal on the track around the turf playing surface.  There was a string under Football in the Fall that discussed the poor facilities for the FB team but also pulled in Track and MSO and WSO teams -- all of which would benefit (image, recruiting, etc -wise) from finishing the project. It's worse than most contemporary high school facilities -- certainly not D-I caliber -- and most D-III facilities here in the east blow that place away.

I think it's nice that the Welcome Center is being built and I like the fact that VU is headed toward 6,000 students. But I also think that to be competitive in today's prospective student marketplace, colleges and universities have to present a better and better picture across the board of top draw academics supported by top draw facilities.  Brown Field right now is not in that category.

[okinawatyphoon]

Another view of the front:

[valpopal]

President Heckler today distributed to the campus an invitation to the Welcome Center groundbreaking, which he said was made possible due to a donor's anonymous $5 million gift to the University. The web page with information about the Welcome Center and the groundbreaking can be found at the following: http://valpo.edu/welcomecenter/

[okinawatyphoon]

It's great to see this building getting attention with its own webpage and groundbreaking. That's more than I can say for the Arts & Sciences building. 

[sectionee]

Everything looks set up for this weekend's big event!   

[okinawatyphoon]

a photo of the groundbreaking preparation from an admissions official

[okinawatyphoon]

ground was broken today. see photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/valparaiso_university/sets/72157629555782094/

anyone know who the older people are in the groundbreaking? the anonymous donors?

[vu72]

ground was broken today. see photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/valparaiso_university/sets/72157629555782094/

anyone know who the older people are in the groundbreaking? the anonymous donors?

[/b]

I'm quite certain its one of the Duesenberg twins, Richard or Robert.  Both Valpo undergrad and law grads. Highly successful lawyers and both Valpo Board members.  One was General Counsel for General Dynamics and the other General Counsel for another Fortune 500 company. They have given millions to Valpo (Kade-Duesenberg House) as an example.
Never met them but both a true blessing for Valpo.

[bbtds]

ground was broken today. see photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/valparaiso_university/sets/72157629555782094/

anyone know who the older people are in the groundbreaking? the anonymous donors?

[/b]

I'm quite certain its one of the Duesenberg twins, Richard or Robert.  Both Valpo undergrad and law grads. Highly successful lawyers and both Valpo Board members.  One was General Counsel for General Dynamics and the other General Counsel for another Fortune 500 company. They have given millions to Valpo (Kade-Duesenberg House) as an example.
Never met them but both a true blessing for Valpo.

http://www.valpo.edu/news/news.php?releaseId=207

Richard Duesenburg was General Counsel at Monsanto Company, the company that is well known for putting astroturf in the Astrodome in Houston and a little later they also put astroturf in many of the cookie-cutter stadiums such as Busch Memorial Stadium in St.Louis, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Shea Stadium in New York, Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City.....etc. Richard was senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of the company at the time of his retirement.

[okinawatyphoon]

Thanks for the info, 72 and bbtds. Just saw that it will be called the Duesenberg Welcome Center. 

[FWalum]

Will they put a Duesy in lobby as a conversation piece? This one would look really nice!

[setshot]

My wife and I were on campus when the Dusenburg's were there. We were undergrads,they were in law school.Back then the law school students had a reputation for being SNOBS (only kidding)! Thanks for everything guys. I'm going to start a petition to change the U's name from Valparaiso to Dusenberg much as Glassboro State did when it changed its name to Rowan U.,or when Western Maryland changed its name to McDaniel U. GO DUSENBURG! 

[vufan75]

An article from the main page of the university website that discusses the Duesenbergs $5 million gift for the Welcome Center.

http://www.valpo.edu/news/news.php?releaseId=4742

[FWalum]

An article from the main page of the university website that discusses the Duesenbergs $5 million gift for the Welcome Center.

Nice to see that one of the long time supporters of the university is back to do the construction work on the Welcome Center.  Congratulations to the Hagerman Group, and one of my friends from the Lutheran Foundation and VU alum Nathan Fink, for your work on this project!

[okinawatyphoon]

I wonder what changed to make the anonymous donors known. either way, I like the sound of having the Welcome Center have a name in front of it. it adds character and a feeling that you are at a private university.

[valpopal]

I was on campus today and stopped to watch the first day of work at the Welcome Center. The ground was dug up this afternoon and some construction equipment moved into place. In fact, the whole campus appears to be under construction. In addition to the Welcome Center, the Chapel is fenced off and renovation fully underway, one of the buildings at the University Promenade is going up and its first floor nearly complete, there is renovation taking place at Guild Memorial, trucks are moving the last furnishings from Huegli Hall into the new Arts & Science building, and there are a lot of landscaping projects taking place. Usually, summers on campus are mostly quiet, but this is going to be a busy summer all around VU, especially when you consider that the hospital will be vacated to its new location in August.

[okinawatyphoon]

thanks for the update valpopal. I am glad the welcome center is starting on time!

[vuweathernerd]

Usually, summers on campus are mostly quiet

that's because they're waiting for the students to come back in the fall so they can more effectively inconvenience them. my last couple years at vu, all work was done during the year, including the petty little projects that could've been done in the summer with no ill effects whatsoever. the one that pissed me off the most was the road resurfacings - they could've done those during the summer with minimal impact, even to the students working on campus through the summer, but they waited until right after the semester started and then shut roads down.

but i'm glad they plan on working this summer - maybe they won't have quite so many random projects popping up during the year then.

[valpo04]

Usually, summers on campus are mostly quiet

that's because they're waiting for the students to come back in the fall so they can more effectively inconvenience them. my last couple years at vu, all work was done during the year, including the petty little projects that could've been done in the summer with no ill effects whatsoever. the one that pissed me off the most was the road resurfacings - they could've done those during the summer with minimal impact, even to the students working on campus through the summer, but they waited until right after the semester started and then shut roads down.

but i'm glad they plan on working this summer - maybe they won't have quite so many random projects popping up during the year then.

Tis better to inconvenience current students than to have prospectives see it!

[vuweathernerd]

Usually, summers on campus are mostly quiet

that's because they're waiting for the students to come back in the fall so they can more effectively inconvenience them. my last couple years at vu, all work was done during the year, including the petty little projects that could've been done in the summer with no ill effects whatsoever. the one that pissed me off the most was the road resurfacings - they could've done those during the summer with minimal impact, even to the students working on campus through the summer, but they waited until right after the semester started and then shut roads down.

but i'm glad they plan on working this summer - maybe they won't have quite so many random projects popping up during the year then.

Tis better to inconvenience current students than to have prospectives see it!

i don't know about that. sure, it might kinda suck as a prospective to see work being done, but it shows potential future students that valpo does care about its facilities and will make improvements and replace buildings if/when possible.

my freshman year (and typhoon might remember this as well), it was a game everyday of where are the fences going to be today? they would block off random pieces of sidewalk and do nothing. and then the next day, they'd be somewhere else. it was a source of great confusion to the students. but then again, so were classes. 

[valpo04]

Usually, summers on campus are mostly quiet

that's because they're waiting for the students to come back in the fall so they can more effectively inconvenience them. my last couple years at vu, all work was done during the year, including the petty little projects that could've been done in the summer with no ill effects whatsoever. the one that pissed me off the most was the road resurfacings - they could've done those during the summer with minimal impact, even to the students working on campus through the summer, but they waited until right after the semester started and then shut roads down.

but i'm glad they plan on working this summer - maybe they won't have quite so many random projects popping up during the year then.

Tis better to inconvenience current students than to have prospectives see it!

i don't know about that. sure, it might kinda suck as a prospective to see work being done, but it shows potential future students that valpo does care about its facilities and will make improvements and replace buildings if/when possible.

my freshman year (and typhoon might remember this as well), it was a game everyday of where are the fences going to be today? they would block off random pieces of sidewalk and do nothing. and then the next day, they'd be somewhere else. it was a source of great confusion to the students. but then again, so were classes. 

I just remember my FOCUS experience... Valpo in June was as picturesque as it comes.  Then again, there were no construction projects going on back then. 

I have often said if I had made my first visit in winter I would have never went there!