Faculty and staff got “In the Loop” this week, at the first of what will be quarterly meetings for College employees to hear from and socialize with President Raynard Kington and other administrators.
The topic of the first meeting, which took place on Thursday, Oct. 2, was the College’s recent ARH and Carnegie remodeling and expansion. Kington said that the goal for this year is to raise money and to plan the architectural design of the building. The final result should be a complex similar in function to the current Robert N. Noyce ’49 Science Center, he indicated.
Kington also introduced another future project: a formal entrance structure on Park Street and 8 Avenue. He said that these projects will help with Grinnell’s overall campus landscape.
“We need to be thoughtful of how we help people who are experiencing campus for the first time, but also in day-to-day life, [in order to] make the campus more hospitable,” Kington said.
Photo by Chris Lee.
Over the upcoming six-month period, the President’s office will gather information about the needs and expectations of faculty members about the upcoming building project. In January, an architectural company will be selected from the three current finalists. Kington also encouraged attendees to send their suggestions or comments about the building plans to [arhcarnegieplanning].
The second topic tackled during the meeting was sustainability, specifically the College’s approach to becoming more sustainable. In November, Grinnell held a Town Hall meeting where attendees mentioned a wide variety of topics concerning sustainability, such as uses of prairie landscape, food production and sourcing, recycling and educational awareness within the staff and the student body.
Additionally, Kington said that the success of the College will also depend on its relationship with the local community. Currently, he said that a “zone of confluence” separates the College and town and prevents meaningful engagement.
“The zone of confluence refers to the space in the town between the edge of the campus and the beginning of downtown … We realized that to a large degree even more than we used to think before the success of [the] College really depends on the town being successful. Although in the last 10 years we had tremendous strides in the collaboration between the College and the town, we think there is a lot more to be done,” Kington said.
Kington said that the College is planning to act as a ‘land bank’ for the town. As part of this initiative, the College recently purchased the building that was previously a Pizza Hut, located directly in this “zone of confluence.” In the future the College hopes to collaborate with the city and hire professionals who will help to plan to use the space as an intended bridge across the perceived gap between the town of Grinnell and Grinnell College.
Quarterly “In the Loop” meetings will continue into next semester, and the next meeting will be hosted on Wednesday, Feb. 25. All members of the College and Grinnell community are welcome to attend.
insider • Dec 12, 2014 at 8:44 am
Kington is all smoke and mirrors. The “perceived gap” is his arrogant perception.
“Zone of confluence” = college land-grab to expand the campus borders
“Land bank” = we want to decide who and what goes there (i.e. see above for “zone of confluence” translation) and not pay any taxes but be sure to send the police or fire trucks if we need them
I heard all the rental houses on Broad are on the list so the college can build another set of dorms.
Parent • Dec 5, 2014 at 1:14 pm
What a surprise:
“Kington said that the goal for this year is to raise money…..”