“Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a metal is non-ferrous. Jack and I carry a small magnet on our persons for just these instances,” said Matthew Freed, the recycling crew leader at ��ݮ����. 

He and his Facilities Management colleague Jack Hummel regularly collect scrap metal that’s leftover from renovation work on campus to haul out to the local scrapyard, and they use the magnets to know whether or not a bit of metal belongs in the ‘contains iron’ or ‘does not contain iron’ bin.

“These metals come from leftover wire from electrical work, leftover copper pipe from various construction/renovation work on campus, electric motors taken out of different broken appliances and HVAC units, brass items such as old door hardware and old kitchen faucets, and discarded lead-acid batteries,” Freed said. 

Recently, Freed had a non-ferrous scrap run of “epic” proportions, earning over $500 for their quarterly haul. 

“This time we had a lot of brass for some reason and metal prices are higher than they have been in about 10 years,” he said. 

One of the most unique things they’ve hauled off so far was the old planetarium’s star projector assemblage during the Suter Science Center renovations last summer – an that was state of the art when first installed in 1968.

This isn’t exactly a cash cow for the university, though – more of a labor of love. Freed usually only gets around $100 per load of non-ferrous metal, but is committed to the practice as a good steward of the materials that come through EMU’s campus. 

That commitment has shone through in the annual RecycleMania competition, as EMU has placed first for five years straight among participating Virginia universities. 

Recycling staff and student workers at EMU collect 70 tons annually of recyclable materials from 24 campus recycling points using custom-built bicycles pulling specially-designed, eight-foot trailers that can each haul about 300 pounds at a time.

“Recycling scrap metal is just one of the facilities management initiatives that supports our goal of increased sustainability as an institution,” said Ed Lehman, director of facilities management. 

Stella G. Knicely, 72, of Mount Crawford, passed away Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020, at her home. A graveside service was Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, at Pike Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg with Linden Rhodes officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Gideons International, PO Box 734, Harrisonburg, VA 22803.

Memories shared in the comments below will be passed on to her family.

***

Many of us who knew Stella Knicely, longtime administrative secretary of ��ݮ����’s physical plant, will remember her just as she appears in the feature image above: a slight woman dwarfed by a very large desk and counter, but clearly in charge of everything within her view, more than a little forbidding when you stopped in to pick up a key or or sign out a university vehicle.

Surely, many of us also will smile and nod at learning that Braydon Hoover, who knew Stella both as a student and then in his various roles in the Advancement division, considered it a personal triumph if a joking remark earned the reward of her smile. “I always tried,” Hoover said, “and didn’t always succeed, but when I did, her smile would light up the room.” 

Thanks to former colleagues Eldon Kurtz and Ed Lehman for these photos, which tell their own story of Stella at EMU.  

There’s Stella with President Loren Swartzendruber, who made the trip down to the Physical Plant to present her with a plaque in recognition of her years of service because she demurred wider recognition. Her smile is delightful and the fact that a photographer was present to take this photo tells us that her colleagues were just as delighted for her.

And the pancake-flipping? When she retired in 2015, after more than 22 years of service, Stella shared her party with colleague Lewis Driver and insisted on flipping pancakes on the grill to stay out of the spotlight. 

Finally, there’s the photo of Stella with a tea set gifted to her by her physical plant colleagues. Eldon recalls that family was all-important to Stella, and that sharing tea parties with family members was an important and treasured tradition. The EMU tea set was, then, also a gift from family.

Eldon remembers Stella as dependable, professional, a stickler for detail and protocols, and with a concern for justice and fairness. “Her colleagues who interacted with her over time came to appreciate her honesty, sense of humor, sensitivity and kindness,” he said. 

Her sterling qualities, especially her capacity to show and share grace, helped her weather many changes in the Physical Plant, and at the university, from 1992 to 2015, Eldon noted, including “a supervisor who was very different from her.”

“Her insights, challenges, and support” were of great value during the 17 years they worked together, “much to my benefit as well as that of the university.”  

Among his cherished memories are moments of deep fellowship, raising candid conversations about faith, hopes and fears with Stella and colleague Loretta Helmuth over the office counter. Stella took those times to heart and offered not only a listener’s heart and counsel if needed but sometimes more: “When Stella said she would pray about something, you knew it was happening.” 

Ed, who was assistant director under Kurtz and now serves as director of the renamed Facilities Management, shares similar memories: “She was very professional with a bit of humor once you got to know her. Always a stickler for following process and policy, she was very organized and knowledgeable about our campus, its faculty and staff, and had a genuine servant’s heart. Her gracious spirit endeared her to those of us who worked closely with her, and she had a way of keeping us at our best, most of the time.”

Stella is survived by five sisters, Hazel Shirk of Rockingham, Rhoda Showalter and husband, Larry, of Seneca Rocks, W.Va., Fay Brubaker and husband, Harold, of Harrisonburg, Mabel Knicely of Mount Crawford and Elsie Showalter and husband, Robert, of Broadway; and two brothers, Boyd Knicely and wife, Mabel, of Weyers Cave, and Wade Knicely and wife, Rhoda, of Mount Crawford. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Preceding her in death, in addition to her parents, are her brother, Fred Knicely and wife, Dawn; brother-in-law, Mervin Shirk; and great-niece, Christine Hobbs.

Three new pieces of equipment have arrived on the ��ݮ���� campus, much to the delight of the employees who will use them most.

Hopping onto the new Hustler zero-turn mowers, Henry Bowser couldn’t resist popping a small wheelie before racing off with Kendall Wenger for some exhibition mowing on Bomberger Field. And later John Dudley, a senior working with EMU Facilities Management, was given the honor of taking the Hustler MDV all-purpose vehicle for a little spin around the parking lot. 

The equipment, all produced by Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas, arrived from local dealer Rockingham New Holland, as part of a beneficial deal with Excel principles Bob Mullet and Cal Redekop. Mullet is chairman of Excel’s board and former COO of the family-owned business (his son Luke Roth-Mullet ‘01 is the company’s former director of manufacturing). Redekop, a former Hesston College professor, helped to found Excel. Both men live in Harrisonburg.

Hustler products are a favorite of EMU Facilities Management, though Wenger, a Hesston native, admits his proclivities may be partially due to geographic loyalties.

“We’ve really tried all the major brands,” he said, “and Hustler just stripes the best and runs cleanest.” 

During the growing season, Wenger and other employees contribute some of the 30 hours it takes to keep 30 acres of campus lawn and athletic fields trimmed neatly. The new mowers will help minimize those hours, said Ed Lehman, director of facilities management. 

Redekop was especially pleased to make a contribution to broadening EMU’s color palette. “I affirm EMU’s wisdom in increasing yellow color on campus,” he said, with a grin.

Lehman says the new MDV will be especially useful, considering that EMU’s equivalent vehicles for all-purpose maintenance duties until then was a small fleet of “heavy-duty golf carts.” The new four-wheel-drive MDV is a precision-built utility vehicle with a specially engineered drop-down dump bed called a LeveLift. 

“That bed is really helpful when there’s only one person to do the job,” said Loretta Parkinson, youthful salesperson and daughter of Russ Parkinson, manager of Rockingham New Holland, who stepped in to answer questions from a bystander. 

Her brother Derrick had earlier helped to move machinery in the proper line-up for a small thank-you reception that included university president Susan Schultz Huxman, Director of Development and Annual Giving Braydon Hoover ‘11, and nearly the entire facilities management staff. The pumpkin bars and the cider were a treat, but it was the exhibition synchronized mowing, with accompanying drone action to capture the event, that drew the entire crowd out into the fall sunshine.

“Wow, these are fast,” Bowser said, as he zoomed past, perhaps thinking of all the time next spring, when mowing resumes, that he might save for other projects (and there are always other projects). “This is great!” 

And then he popped one more wheelie.

“Just having this little piece of the woods to come and kind of escape to was so valuable to me,” senior Bekah Mongold ��������.��

She’d come to ��ݮ���� from Mathias, West Virginia – “I am very much not a city girl, so living in Harrisonburg was like a culture shock to me,” she said – and the 13-acre woods nestled between the EMU’s Park Wood Apartments and track and the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) reminded her of her rural home.

However, the more time that Mongold spent in Park Woods – not only for respite but also as part of her spring semester studies – the more she realized that not everything about the woods was as it should – or could – be. 

Mongold and five other students taking the spring environmental sustainability capstone course focused their research on the woods, and presented findings and proposals during the EMU Academic and Creative Excellence Festival in April.

“It makes me a little bit sad cause like I know when you when you just walk through, you think, ‘Oh, it’s so green! It’s so pretty!’ And then when you start noticing what is green, it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s maybe not quite as healthy as it should be,’” she said.

The urban forest offers space for immersing oneself in nature, seeking spiritual renewal, learning about the environment and running, hiking and playing. But as Mongold and her classmates learned, it also encapsulates the sometimes-problematic interactions of social and ecological systems.

A live project

Assessing the ecological needs of the wood’s flora and fauna and the broader community was a “live project,” applied social sciences professor Jenni Holsinger said, that involved “real research and real problems that come along with the research process.” 

Mongold and fellow senior Nidhi Vinod assessed forest management needs and possibilities in Park Woods, while Ethan Mathews and John Dudley focused on water management, and Victoria Barnes and Xander Silva mapped the stakeholders.

Park Woods is plagued with the invasive bush honeysuckle, plus emerald ash borer, which has caused the death of nearly all of the ash trees there. It also faces frequent flooding from rainfall runoff from elevated surroundings; a diversion dike along its southeast edge retains water in order to prevent flooding of and the dispersion of sediments into the Harrisonburg creek Blacks Run.

Along with the dead ash trees, that flooding threatens or destroys parts of the Park Woods walking path, a winding trail that, along with the fire circle, the pavilion, and, in years past, Park Cabin, is responsible for attracting many of the woods’ stakeholders: VMRC residents, nearby community members, Eastern Mennonite School students, and EMU alumni and student groups. One alumni group, Friends of Park Woods, was organized a few years ago by Paul Lehman and Professor Emeritus Kenton Brubaker and has done much to bring attention to the plight of the woods. 

Moving forward

The capstone students pointed to possible interventions in Park Woods, including community volunteers and even goats to remove invasive plant species. 

For water management, defining waterways and constructing a wet pond would make the woods both more healthy and attractive, said Mathews, with the pond in particular becoming “a nice place for anybody to come enjoy.”

Even with a limited budget, Barnes said, small improvements – in signage, for example – would promote student use of the woods. And adding bathrooms in Park Cabin would benefit guests, as well.

Intervening, though, takes balance, said Silva. 

“I think the biggest thing I learned was finding the line between maximum utility of a space and keeping it a natural ecosystem,” he said. “There are a lot of things that we could do here that would make it a lot more appealing for students and just humans in general, but I also think there are a lot of things that are really special about this place that we really shouldn’t change. … you kind of have to step back and say this space has its own ideas of what it wants to do, and that has to be taken into account.”

“I would like to come back in 10 years and seeing more than just honeysuckle and ivy,” Mongold ��������.��

That may be doable – but other hopes are less likely.

“I would really like to see some ash trees through here,” she added, “but I don’t think that’s possible.”

The microgrid, set to come online during week of March 12-16, will use three new 500-kilowatt natural gas-fired generators to strengthen EMU’s ability to respond during periods of significant demand on the local grid. It will be able to power the university independently when necessary, such as in times of local grid outages.

“This aligns with the university’s commitment to be an energy-efficient, sustainable campus,” said Ed Lehman, director of facilities management, “and will result in electric utility cost savings for EMU.”

Universities are showing a growing interest in microgrids, said Microgrid Institute founder and director Michael Burr in a . Microgrids not only “meet their needs but also showcase their commitment to innovation.”

In the article, EMU’s microgrid was featured as a model among universities such as UC San Diego, MIT, Montclair, Princeton and Santa Clara University that are generating their own power needs.

The facility is projected to save the university almost seven dollars per kilowatt of monthly distribution demand fees.

“We’re taking a load off of Harrisonburg Electric Commission, when they need it, thereby saving them money,” said Lehman. “In turn, they are allowing us to pay a lower distribution demand fee.”

The microgrid was a facility improvement measure stemming from a performance contract with Siemens Building Technologies, which studied EMU’s energy use and made recommendations for improvements. EMU will pay off the improvement measures, including the microgrid generators, over the next 15 years with the savings resulting from improved efficiency and reduced energy and water consumption.

The generators will be integrated into the existing campus building automation system, which already helps manage times of peak electrical demand.

Other steps taken by EMU over the years to improve energy efficiency on campus have included heating system and lighting upgrades, the construction of three LEED Gold-certified buildings and installing 328 high-efficiency photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Hartzler Library. At the time of its installation in 2010, the 104-kilowatt system was the largest in Virginia, and most years it has performed slightly above initial predictions, said Lehman.

The brand-new Campus Center, in 1986, was the first major building project that Eldon Kurtz oversaw on the ��ݮ���� campus. Thirty years later, the new will be his last project. Kurtz, director, will retire at the end of the spring 2016 semester.

Despite his low profile, Kurtz has become an integral part of campus life and earned the admiration of many.

“He’s one of those classic lifelong learners,” said Sustainability Coordinator . “He’s very engaged on campus, on what students are talking about, and on what campus community is buzzing about.”

Sophomore Josh Calderon, who worked with the physical plant as a summer conference and events assistant last summer, echoed Lantz-Trissel’s sentiments. “He brings a different sort of care to the job,” said Calderon. “He not only works here, but if you walk into that stadium during a basketball game, you’ll see him up there. That’s how you know someone loves his job.”

Work-study position starts career

Kurtz’s story begins in 1973, when he enrolled at Eastern Mennonite College as an undergraduate student in the Bible department. Thanks to previous skill in the electrical trade, he immediately began working in a work-study position as an electrician for what was then known as the Building and Grounds Department.

Kurtz also was residence director in Oakwood men’s dorm, where he lived with his wife, Sharyl (their daughter Sara, who would eventually graduate from EMU, was born while they lived at EMU).

After graduation in 1976, Kurtz moved directly into the director of custodial services role, where he served for 9 months before being promoted into a newly created role of physical plant director where he remained until 1985.

Kurtz then worked with Brunk Mechanical in construction, which included overseeing construction for the new Campus Center.

Afterward, Kurtz parted ways with EMU until 1997, when his old job opened up. He was happy to return and has served as physical plant director ever since.

“He was the right person at the right place at the right time,” said Lantz-Trissel. “He graduated from here, and he was a trade person, and all that has been really important.”

Sustainability initiatives implemented

Kurtz reflects that his greatest contribution of many may be the improvements in . “Controls in the old days were much more rudimentary,” he said. “We had a central heating plant and we distributed steam all over the campus. When I came back in ’97, I dug up an old energy report from 1980, and I’ve traced our energy usage, BTU per square feet.”

Since that first report, Kurtz has overseen almost a tripling in heating efficiency, from 140,000 BTU per square feet to the current level of 45,000 BTU per square feet.

”We could easily be spending another $300,000 to half a million per year in energy costs if we hadn’t been operating with the kind of vigilance we have been doing,” he said. “Our department has contributed pretty significantly to the reduction of costs to the university.”

Energy reduction costs have not been the only significant changes ushered in under Kurtz. In his time, EMU has transformed its , constructed , built what was at the time the largest in Virginia, and grown in dozens of other ways.

“Even within two years here, so much has changed,” said Calderon, noting that whenever an outdoor lamp goes out, “I see one of these nice new LEDs pop up. I mean, that’s not something they have to do, they probably have extra fluorescents laying around, but he makes it happen anyway.”

Cooperation, teamwork, customer service

Before any of these changes happened, however, Kurtz first wanted to foster an environment of loyalty and friendliness in the Physical Plant. His hard work appears to have paid off.

“Probably the other thing I’m happiest and proudest about is having the good fortune to assemble a team of really excellent people and trying to engender a spirit of cooperation and teamwork and customer service,” said Kurtz. “That was really important to me.”

Andrew Troyer, a first-year work-study employee at the plant, noted the dedication and sincerity of his employers. “A lot of nice people work in the Physical Plant,” Troyer said. “They’re just a fun group to work with. They’ll let you try something out, give you an opportunity, and they’re willing to teach you stuff.”

According to Lantz-Trissel, that receptiveness stems directly from Kurtz. “If you take him some wild idea, he’s going to sit and listen to it,” Lantz-Trissel said. “That means that EMU has pushed more boundaries because other schools are more rigid and say ‘no’ more often than they ought. I remember early in my parenting years, Eldon sent me his advice for young parents: ‘Whenever possible, say yes.’ He kind of runs with that mentality.”

Kurtz, on the other hand, pins the success of his department to the people around him.

“Over the years, I’ve been challenged by people that were better than me, but I’ve learned that it’s better to have people who challenge me than surrounded by mediocre people,” said Kurtz.

This June, Kurtz will conclude 19 years as physical plant director and over 30 total years of employment and service at EMU.

“It seems like it’s gone so fast, and I love the people here, and I’m so glad to have an environment where you’re trusted, and trusted to do the right thing for your employer,” said Kurtz. “You can make a case for what you want to do, you know, and you generally get support. I’m just leaving to give someone else a chance.”

Shantz had two choices: tear it down or renovate it. After consulting with, as Shantz puts it, “the one-man maintenance department of Gordie Shantz,” the decision was made.

Under his direction, youth group volunteers gutted the building, put on a fresh coat of paint, and turned it into a storage shed. The oldest permanent structure at Highland Retreat still stands.

This is a common problem among many camps with long histories and old buildings, Shantz realized. Maintenance teams must keep an eye on budgets and eco-friendly choices, while still being sensitive to architectural history.

Thus came the origin of a recent workshop, “New Wine in Old Wineskins,” for maintenance teams from camps in the eastern region of the (MCA). The informative visit to ��ݮ���� to learn about sustainability initiatives was facilitated by Ed Lehman, assistant physical plant director.

MCA, which was founded in 1960, is, “a clearinghouse for directing and promoting Christian camping among Anabaptist/Mennonite conferences and congregations around the United States and Canada.” Thirty-one North American camps are members, including Camp Men-O-Lan, the first Mennonite camp, located near Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

While the scale of EMU’s renovations are much larger than that required by the camps, EMU representatives, including building automation coordinator Greg Sachs ’03 and sustainability coordinator l ’00, could provide general trends that translate to a smaller scale.

After a Powerpoint presentation highlighting significant renovation projects at Roselawn, Suter Science Center, and the two LEED-certified dormitories, participants had a brisk discussion about issues related to their specific facilities: , which first began hosting guests in 1935, in New York; Highland Retreat, dating from 1958; and the newest facility to be represented, in Toano, Virginia, which started in 1984. A representative from also attended.

Camp Deerpark, which includes new buildings as well as some older structures that predate the current organization by several years, has a heating system fueled by a large wood stove and generators that run on overdrive during the cold northern winters, said maintenance director Sean McConaghay.

Among the valuable bits of information that Shantz gleaned from the visit is EMU’s 20 percent cost model on new projects. For example, if a new building costs $100, then renovation for an old building should only be considered if the total cost is $80 or less.

Shantz also favored EMU’s five-to-seven-year payback model, in which new equipment is expected to return the investment within a range of five to seven years.

For Shantz and others involved in the important but often overlooked job of keeping camps functioning and aesthetically attractive, the time to sit down, learn and share with other professionals was valuable – regardless of whether the discussion was about replacing a lightbulb, he said, or installing new toilets.

As is the case with some rural camps, the opportunity to acquire adjacent new property sometimes comes with old buildings – and a price tag. That is the case at Highland Retreat, which has recently been offered a nearby property at a favorable price, but with an old but solid building that may need renovation. Shantz has formed a committee to discuss potential uses, he said, adding that EMU’s sustainability initiatives could be a helpful model for Highland Retreat in this instance, and in any future construction project.

“We would like to think that you don’t have these surprises, but that doesn’t always happen,” said , who works on special projects for the provost and is a member of the science center renovation management team. “You have to have a sense of humor about it, or it can really drive you crazy.”

The confusion over the precise location of the underground pipe arose, at least in part, from the sometimes-fuzzy nature of the diagrams and documents of the water and sewer system that was once maintained by the Park View Sanitary District in the days when EMU sat outside the Harrisonburg city limits (it was annexed into the city in 1983). It’s a lesson that’s been learned over the years in the course of other projects on campus.

Some uncertainty is usually part of any dig like this, said Ed Roach, utility coordinator for Harrisonburg. Sometimes real-world conditions force construction crews to deviate from the plans, and sometimes record of this does not make its way back to the file cabinet, and a few decades later, people are left scratching their heads.

Navigating around old buried conduits

After discovering the missing water main, crews began running a trench and new pipe from Park Road toward the science center. They went slowly and carefully, so as not to disturb the underground cables that crisscross the area just beneath the surface. Over the years, new things are buried in the ground; it’s rarely worth the expense to remove older generations of pipe and conduit, though. The dirt starts to get crowded after a while.

Partway between the street and the building, workers encountered some very hard rock used as fill around one of these conduits. It was too hard to break up by hand (one reason why construction standards no longer call for this hard-fill technique). In came the backhoe and careful though the operator was, the conduit was broken and a cable ripped out.

“There are always snags everywhere,” said Phil Reece, job superintendent with , the company overseeing the renovations. “You don’t know what you’re going to run into in a remodel.”

But in this overall bad-luck cable scenario (a literal “snag,” if you will), there was a stroke of good luck. The affected bit of infrastructure was an unused TV cable. A fiber optic cable that brings the internet to the science center – as well as the entire Eastern Mennonite High School campus a bit further down the hill – was also in that same conduit but emerged unscathed.

Working with an eye to the future

It’s all in a day’s work as progress marches on at the science center. There have been other twists, some big, some small. More surprise conduit was uncovered inside the walls of SC 104, the famous “head room.” It wasn’t shown on any drawings.

When the expected unexpected turns up, those involved usually try to get to the bottom of everything. But:

“Once in a while you just have to throw up your hands and say, ‘Well, we really don’t understand why they did things a certain way,’” said , assistant director of the physical plant.

All of this gives Lehman, Rutt, and others encouragement to document every quirk and twist in the new construction as best they can, for the benefit of whoever’s around the next time the science center’s due for an upgrade – which they expect to be a long time from now.

“I believe that we’re proceeding with this project in such a way that it will be a while again before it needs this type of renovation,” said Lehman.

View the latest  from the Suter Science Center

There was this funny message: “History professors Mark Sawin and Mary Sprunger hope students will find them in their temporary office spaces borrowed from the library.”

Some employees signed up to help colleagues move their office belongings from spaces they need to vacate on campus to other landing spots before classes begin.

A dozen staffers volunteered to clean dormitory rooms on a Saturday morning in July, responding to an emailed request for extra cleaning help. (Physical plant staffers needed assistance to achieve a quick turn-around between two huge summer camps using the residence halls, back to back.)

EMU’s long-time registrar, David Detrow ’77, was juggling classroom assignments, squeezing classes into all available spaces, awaiting the completion of classroom, seminar and office spaces on the second and third floor of Roselawn, plus those in the east section of the Suter Science Center.

“It’s satisfying to reuse and bring to new life a residence hall that has been under-utilized,” said physical plant director C. Eldon Kurtz ’76, perched atop the three-story-high unfinished elevator shaft attached to Roselawn, surveying a stupendous eastern mountain view with his assistant director, Ed Lehman.

Daryl Bert ’97, who monitors EMU’s construction and renovation projects as vice president for finance, noted that inspiration for renovating Roselawn flowed from successfully meeting the needs of EMU’s fast-growing Intensive English Program. Before IEP moved to the revamped first floor of Roselawn in 2012, IEP was lodged in a small house near the seminary building on Smith Avenue.

Success of IEP

“After our success with IEP’s space, we began to consider whether we could re-purpose the other floors of Roselawn,” Bert said. He added, however, that IEP’s growth owed more to “the energy and entrepreneurship of [IEP director] Kathleen Roth,” than to its new space, which merely addressed the need for additional space generated by Roth’s efforts.

By the spring 2015 semester, one of the largest classrooms on campus will be on the third floor of Roselawn. It will feature a soaring ceiling, made possible by a “pop-up” structure on the roof of Roselawn, offering a great, naturally lit space for up to 50 people.

Another room will be the hub of distance-learning, with television screens, cameras and seats for 20.

“I expect a lot of our growth in graduate and professional studies over the next number of years to be in the development of distance-learning programs,” said Jim Smucker, dean of EMU’s newly named School for Graduate and Professional Studies.

“With a few exceptions, we are saying any new program needs to be able to be delivered at a distance. Our preferred model will be a hybrid approach which will include short-term residencies and synchronous and asynchronous delivery.”

The undergraduate side of the university is also growing, with a 6% increase over the last three years and a 39% increase in applications since 2009. Tallying all of the programs, including graduate students, “we are as large of a university as we have ever been since opening as a school in 1917,” said Luke Hartman ’91, vice president for enrollment.

The second and third floor of Roselawn will bring together a number of liberal arts departments that often collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner – history, applied social sciences, Bible and religion, and language and literature. (Psychology will join this group on a temporary basis, awaiting renovation of the western portion of the Suter Science Center.) A large-sized classroom, medium-sized classroom, seminar room, and gathering area will be shared among these departments.

Two of these departments will be vacating old houses on the southern edge of campus, which will be turned into administrative offices and “intentional community” housing for students. The former language and literature area will be occupied by the department of development and church relations, which is moving from a privately owned house for which EMU paid rent.

Meanwhile, renovations on the 45-year-old Suter Science Center are fully underway, with the word “renovations” used broadly. The “head room” on Suter’s southern flank had to be torn down entirely when its foundation proved to be unstable. So that part of Suter Science will be rebuilt from the ground up. Some other parts of Suter have been gutted, as necessary to rework the ducting for heating, cooling and ventilation and to make other changes required for state-of-the-art science laboratories and classrooms.

Most building since 2000

Construction projects this summer are the most extensive undertaken at EMU since the northern section of the University Commons was built in 2000 to house the athletic facilities, snack bar, game room, student-life offices, and bookstore. That cost $11 million. The construction budget for the projects underway this summer will total $9.4 million.

For its first 90 years, EMU averaged one major construction project every seven years. The pace of new construction and renovations has accelerated in recent years, as EMU seeks to accommodate the growing demand for up-to-date spaces.

Cedarwood residence hall was completed in the fall of 2009, along with extensive renovations to Elmwood and Maplewood residence halls – all conforming to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. These dorms have proven to be highly popular for rental by summer groups, which accounts for the thousands of new faces on campus this summer.

In 2011, the Lee Eshleman Studio and MainStage theaters, Margaret Martin Gehman Art Gallery, Common Grounds Coffeehouse, and the Kenneth A. Longacre Sr. Advanced Media Lab were completed, rounding out the renovation of the University Commons.

Renovations to the east portion of the Suter Science Center began in early 2014 – a $7 million project.

“To stay on the forefront of a whole-person education – with graduates who become physicians, nurses, lab technologists, physical therapists, and other science professionals – we are committed to having the quality of facilities needed by our teachers and students,” said Kirk Shisler ’81, vice president for advancement.

“I am deeply grateful to the 465 alumni, friends and foundations that have supported our current renovations,” he said.”^*

Kurtz says Roselawn is proving to be an “amazing transformation of spaces.” Previously, consideration had been given to tearing down Roselawn, since it was not accessible to people with physical disabilities and had no air conditioning or cross ventilation via its narrow windows. But it was built on a solid foundation, with a strong shell, so Kurtz and Lehman worked with Blue Ridge Architects to find a way to salvage the building.

Learning from leed work

Now Kurtz thinks Roselawn might end up being one of the nicest places on campus, with “all the lessons we learned in putting up LEED-certified residence halls being applied to Roselawn. These are standard for us now.”

Like Cedarwood, Roselawn will have its climate controlled through a “variable refrigerant flow” system, used successfully for 20 years in Japan and Europe but fairly new to the United States. The occupants of each room will be able to regulate the temperature to their satisfaction. “We keep adding climate-controlled space, yet our energy usage keeps going down,” said Kurtz. “Saving energy is really satisfying to me.”

Between the construction projects and the high usage of facilities by summer groups, Kurtz said his staff have been stretched thin this summer – “we haven’t budgeted additional positions to take on the extra work.” On the plus, “we’re looking forward to less maintenance on the ancient and obsolete HVAC systems that are being replaced.”

Lest smaller improvements be overlooked amid the big ones, note that night lighting is appearing on the sand volleyball court, with labor provided by physical plant staff and materials partly covered by a grant from the student government association.

“Gasp!” exclaimed one former student. “Noooo,” said another. A third alum recalled his “two great years in that drafty old house.” Yet another: “Sad to see a part of my life is now gone.”

In the 1970s, Martin House was among several sites that became intentional communities for EMU students. Normally the communities were led by an older couple who lived in the house. In the case of Martin House, Loren and Pat Swartzentruber were early leaders. Loren is now .

The 86-year-old house, on the corner of a busy intersection at the edge of campus, needed to give way to a future traffic roundabout and a formal entrance to EMU. The is planning a solution to the awkward and dangerous intersection of Chicago Avenue, Park Road, and Mt. Clinton Pike. At the same time EMU asked an architectural firm to develop options for building a welcoming entrance for visitors who turn into Park Road.

Lewis and Cora Martin built the house in 1927 when they moved from Maryland to the edge of campus to operate what was known for many years as Martin’s Store. It was located across Mt. Clinton Pike from them. EMU eventually acquired the store, turning it into a snack shop. Today the former store is part of complex.

Martin House was still structurally sound but needed a new roof, windows, wiring, and plumbing to bring it up to current standards for student housing. “Basically the house needed everything,” said , assistant director of . “It wasn’t worth the cost of investing in Martin House, knowing that its future was uncertain.”

For the last two years, the house stood empty, and its condition deteriorated further. “It’s amazing what happens when a building is not breathing,” said , longtime physical plant director.

The future traffic roundabout will take more space than a normal intersection, but it will be safer, more sustainable, and won’t need stop lights, say Harrisonburg city officials. Roundabouts are common in Europe and becoming more popular in the United States.

But don’t look for the roundabout at Homecoming 2013 or even Homecoming 2014 or 2015. Such major changes occur on a long timeline, involving the coordination of the city, university and multiple other parties.

To make room, in addition to demolishing Martin House, EMU has already torn down Village House on the intersection and will demolish Redmond House as well as one of the Village apartments in the near future.

The biggest drawback to the demolitions, according to Kurtz, is the loss of student housing options, especially for intentional communities.

One solution circulating on campus is to transfer an academic department or two from houses to a three-story former residence hall named Roselawn. The departments’ houses would then be available for student housing. Another solution is for older EMU students to create intentional communities off-campus, as is already happening.

In the meantime, EMU continues to purchase private homes that become available near campus. An entire residential block adjacent to the campus to the north, for example, is now owned by EMU, with the exception of two homes. Kurtz and others dream of a “sustainable neighborhood development” that would be a mix of renters and owners who are students, faculty, retirees, and others. The development would include common shared areas.

“We need to continually assess all the spaces we have on campus so that we can use them more efficiently and sustainably,” said Kurtz.

It won’t be long until lights up again with comments on new initiatives.