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Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Administration

Media Credit: Stephen Kissel Hopwood Hall will recieve a new dome this summer.

While the majority of the Lynchburg College population will hit beaches, jobs, classes this summer, the campus will get its annual makeover from the inside out. From simply cutting the grass to a new artificial turf on Shellenberger Field, this summer promises to be a busy one on campus.

Director of Physical Plant Dave Fischer said some of the renovations planned include the completion of air conditioning in the library, Hundley and several houses, improvements to the Health Center, window replacements, gutter repairs, a possible bridge built across Otter River at Claytor Nature Center, new track lighting for Daura Gallery, an upgraded exhaust system for Westover grille, a bathroom added to the lower level of Thompson, construction of a new batting cage pad on Moon Field and routine painting and carpet replacements. And that's just some of it.

The school must choose from many tasks to tackle in the summer, Project Engineer Jay Jennings said.

"The deans of each school have their wish lists, all the buildings have their needs, but we go with the worst need. A whole lot of different people put into it and everybody agrees what needs to be done," Jennings said.

Another factor taken into consideration is the small time frame for work to be completed.

"We have to schedule our work around the academic year. We try to do as much as we can in the summer so we have contractors coming the Monday after commencement," Jennings said.

Large projects also require plenty of planning time in advance.

"Things are often planned for at least a year. We have meetings as early as June for next June," Fischer said.

A more noticeable project may be the replacement of the copper dome on Hopwood Hall. The dome has been leaking for some time now, Jennings said. The school has patched the dome, but now the time is ripe for replacement.

"The reason we are doing it now is the price of copper is cut in half," Fischer said.

A poor economy, while negative, has some benefits for the school. Materials pricing is one of the many factors that is weighed in deciding what projects to undertake.

"We assign a priority to them, some can wait and some are wishes, but they are not critical. Some are critical like the dome. It's been leaking for a while now," Jennings said.

Continued...

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