Posts tagged campus
CU: State-of-the-art rec center is online
Jan 10th
The University of Colorado Boulder’s expansion of the Student Recreation Center, a project initiated by students, opens on Friday, Jan. 10, at 9 a.m. The southwest addition, the second and largest phase of the project, is located just north of the Ramaley Biology Building and east of Sewall Hall and will provide an additional 83,000 square feet of indoor recreational space.
The portions opening this month include a three-level weight and cardio area; three new wood floor all-purpose indoor courts for basketball, volleyball and badminton; a climbing wall and bouldering area; three fitness studios; wellness suites; new locker rooms and a spacious entrance and lobby.
“Recreation facilities have always been extremely popular among CU-Boulder students and over the years we found that our current facilities were not keeping up with the demand,” said Chris Schaefbauer , CU Student Government tri-executive. “In surveys of our peers we found CU students participate in recreational activities at a rate higher than the national average, but that our indoor recreation and fitness space per student was lower than the national average.”
The new ice rink opened in November and the Rental and Resource Center, which will rent camping and outdoor equipment, opens in mid-February. The final phase of the project, which consists of an indoor turf field, tennis courts, outdoor pool and the renovation of the existing basketball courts, is on track for completion in April.
The $63.5 million project was funded through the sale of bonds to be repaid through student fees collected over a 25-year period. In April 2011, the CU-Boulder student body voted to support the expansion and renovation of the Recreation Center. Nearly 37 percent of eligible student voters participated in the election, the largest ever student turnout, and over 70 percent voted “yes” to increase student fees in support of the expansion and renovation.
“With this state-of-the-art addition and the significant improvements to the Recreation Center, the students and the campus community will indeed have a remarkable facility at their disposal,” said Gary Chadwick, interim director of recreation facilities. “This is certainly an exciting time for the Recreation Services staff, who are anxious to begin offering the students the numerous opportunities that this center provides.”
Students will have 30,000 square feet of state-of-the-art cardiovascular and strength training equipment, a lower-level strength area, several additional cardiovascular and stretching spaces, and a “cardio equipment green zone” that captures user energy produced during exercises to feed back into the power grid and offset some power consumption within the facility.
A 4,000-square-foot-climbing wall built by Eldorado Designs contains areas for bouldering, lead climbing and top-rope climbing. The lead and top-rope areas reach up to 38 feet. The beginner to advanced bouldering terrain reaches a maximum height of 14 feet. The northeast corner consists of shot rock and is designed as an educational area for anchor building, lead climbing and multi-pitch climbing along with gear anchor building.
Three additional multipurpose fitness studios and a mind-body studio will provide members many opportunities to participate in fitness, mind-body, martial arts, Pilates reformer and dance classes.
The Wellness Suite will provide fitness assessments, nutrition clinics, personal training consultations, and the muscular skeletal clinic. The Wellness Suite also will serve to support student success in living a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
The campus community is invited to attend “Reconnect with the Rec” Jan. 21-24. CU-Boulder faculty and staff members are invited to use the facility for free during this time. The event will provide the opportunity to experience and learn more about the southwest addition. Festivities at this free event will include personal trainers and equipment vendors on site, group exercise demonstrations, facility tours, climbing wall competitions, giveaways, snacks and more. For a full schedule of events go to www.colorado.edu/recreation.
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Campus Alerts system gets a test Friday
Dec 3rd
“As we saw during the recent floods, emergencies can happen quickly and without warning,” said Stuart Pike, CU-Boulder emergency management director. “The Campus Alerts system is our most effective means of communicating key safety messages to the campus community. It’s important for students, faculty and staff to be aware of this critical messaging platform.”
If the emergency involves a threat to personal safety or a campus closure, a campus alert will be sent using one or all of the communication methods available. Text messaging is the backbone of the system as it reaches the most individuals in the least amount of time.
More than 90 percent of CU-Boulder students, faculty and staff are registered for the Campus Alerts system and over 90 percent of those have at least one mobile device registered, according to Pike.
During an emergency that affects the campus, critical updates, additional details, and any necessary instructions regarding the nature of the emergency will be posted at http://alerts.colorado.edu, university social media sites, and on the campus Emergency Information Line at 303-492-4636 (303-492-INFO).
Active CU-Boulder student email addresses (@colorado.edu) are automatically registered and the university encourages students to add mobile phone numbers in order to receive text notifications as well. Faculty, staff, or affiliates of the CU-Boulder community with an @colorado.edu (or cufund.org, or cu.edu) e-mail address are encouraged to register on a voluntary basis. Additional information is available at http://alerts.colorado.edu.
Details on the decision process for determining a closure, how administrative leave should be handled for essential personnel and other employees, and answers to questions that frequently arise are covered in “Campus Closing Procedures During Emergencies” located at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/campus-closing-procedures-during-emergencies.
Any user who expected to receive an alert and didn’t, or who needs help signing up for the system, should call the IT Service Center at 303-735-HELP or email help@colorado.edu.
CU: more computers for more kids
Nov 7th
Computers To Youth program
The University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center is expanding its Computers To Youth program to include more students and more interactive activities.
Computers To Youth provides high school students from underrepresented communities with upgraded used computers and hands-on training from CU-Boulder student mentors. Its purpose is to benefit underserved youth in Colorado and protect the environment. The computer systems received by the high school students through the program are designed to enable academic achievement that will encourage students to attend college.
“Not only do the high school students but also the college student mentors see this as an inspiring learning experience,” said CU-Boulder engineering student and Computers To Youth mentor Rebecca Miller. “The fact that CU-Boulder put together this program that saves resources, prevents waste and enables future scientists and engineers is completely brilliant.”
The next Computers To Youth event will be held Saturday, Nov. 9. Fourteen high school students from the Family Learning Center in Boulder, guided by CU-Boulder student mentors, will go through surplus computer components, bundle parts, load the latest software and take their newly built computer systems with them. The day also will include a new competition in which teams will race to disassemble and reassemble a demonstration computer.
“As technology increasingly becomes a part of daily life, those without computer access risk falling behind,” said Jack DeBell, the CU Environmental Center’s recycling program development director. “This consequence, known as the digital divide, tends to affect economically disadvantaged populations, especially youth. With such a great amount of computer equipment being discarded by a technologically advanced campus, it only makes sense that some of this equipment be “upcycled” to bridge the digital divide.”
The CU-Boulder student mentors are part of the statewide MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement) program. CU-Boulder’s MESA Center is headquartered in the Department of Pre-College Outreach Services in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE).
MESA Colorado also refers high school students to the Computers To Youth program.
With two additional Computers To Youth events slated for the spring semester, about 55 youth will be served by the program this academic year. The Denver Area Telecommunications Educational Telecommunication Consortium (DAETC) has enabled the increase in the number of participants, up from 48 last year, according to DeBell.
The CU Environmental Center has held numerous computer-build events since it began restoring and redistributing computers in 2001. In 2005, it received the Dell Higher Education Leadership Award to fund the collection of unused personal computers from the campus community and divert the equipment from landfills.
Also part of the Computers To Youth program is CU’s Property Services department. Other contributors have included the Community Computer Connection and Microsoft Corp.
“Hopefully this project will create additional collaboration with community groups and corporate sponsors in Colorado,” said St. Vrain School District teacher Karen Hunter, whose high school participated in Computers To Youth last year. “The students’ new-found confidence as a result of the amazing folks at CU-Boulder tells it all.”
For more information about Computers To Youth visit http://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/other-programs/computers-youth.
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