Kansas State University

2017 Space Migration Planning Project outcomes

Submitted by President Richard Myers

The Space Migration Work Group has worked diligently over the past four months to reallocate spaces being vacated as a result of the previous space migration project. The work group evaluated 21 proposals, each with a strong justification for new or additional space on campus. The President's Cabinet has approved the work group's recommendations, and I am pleased to announce the final outcomes of the 2017 Space Migration Planning Project.

As a reminder, the guiding principles of the project included maintaining classroom space, increasing shared spaces, cost effectiveness and making selections that correlate with the Master Plan and K-State 2025. The selected proposals best utilized the spaces being vacated in Anderson Hall, Fairchild Hall, Holton Hall, Leasure Hall, Seaton Hall, Hale Library and Unger Complex.

Listed below are the successful proposals by building:

• Anderson Hall — The Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance will utilize space in Anderson Hall as offices for two new positions that will manage risk and improve university compliance with Title IX, the Clery Act and other federal requirements.

• Fairchild Hall — Two proposals requesting space in Fairchild Hall were accepted. The Office of PreAward Services will expand and reorganize within its current space in the basement and on the first floor of Fairchild Hall. PreAward Services has outgrown its current space as the number of staff has grown with the university's expansion of research expenditures. Room 009 in Fairchild Hall will house a centralized food pantry with a distribution area and a private office for individual resource counseling. Many of our students deal with food insecurity, so I am excited we are able to identify a suitable location on campus to serve our students struggling with this issue. The food panty initially set up will be limited to nonperishable food items.

• Hale Library — Space in the basement of Hale Library will be allocated to provide private, secure storage for K-State Libraries and Information Technology Services. The two units will share a conference room in the space, which will free up other conference rooms in the building for use by additional campus users.

• Holton Hall — K-State First, the university's first-year experience program, will relocate to Holton Hall. K-State First has outgrown its current space in Leasure Hall and relocating to Holton Hall will put the office in close proximity to key campus partners and increase cross-unit collaboration and interaction.

• Leasure Hall — The mathematics and American ethnic studies departments will acquire additional faculty office space in Leasure Hall. Both departments are growing and at capacity in their current spaces.

• Seaton Hall — The geography department will expand into additional space in Seaton Hall that provides additional research, teaching and faculty office space. Geography already occupies some space in Seaton Hall.

• Unger Complex — The College of Engineering will utilize space on the second floor of Unger Complex for various programs such as the Molecular Catalysis Modeling Group, water and environmental engineering and a robotics laboratory. Relocating these programs to Unger Complex will free up space in Engineering Hall for new faculty, undergraduate research, club and competition team spaces. The College of Education will utilize space on the first floor as a meeting and training space for NACADA, a national academic advising association.

This is the third space migration project on the Manhattan campus. Very few proposals in this phase resulted in vacated space. A formal space allocation process will be developed to review space requests and the allocation of space on an as needed, more timely basis instead of continuing the annual space migration process. Heather Mills, assistant director of space management, will continue to coordinate the space allocation process.

I would like to thank the members of the Space Migration Work Group for their time and thoughtful input during this process. Members include April Mason, provost and senior vice president; Andy Bennett, Faculty Senate president; Carol Marden, University Support Staff Senate president; Jessica Van Ranken, student body president; Tucker Jones, Graduate School Council president; Cindy Bontrager, vice president for administration and finance; and ex-officio members Ryan Swanson, associate vice president for Division of Facilities and Heather Mills, assistant director of space management.

If you have questions regarding the 2017 Space Migration Project, please do not hesitate to contact Heather Mills at hlmills@k-state.edu or Cindy Bontrager at cab@k-state.edu.

Richard B. Myers
President
Kansas State University