Temple University: Schools plan for, need construction

On Main and Health Sciences campuses, several schools have ongoing or planned projects.

Coming on the heels of recent plans for construction, enacted as part of Visualize Temple, several schools and colleges have plans to update their facilities in the next several years.

Of Temple’s 17 schools and colleges, The Temple News found eight sponsoring ongoing and future construction projects.

The Fox School of Business is in the process of taking over 1810 Liacouras Walk. The building once held the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science and Technology advising offices, which have since moved to the first floor of Paley Library. How the school will use the new space is not yet determined, Dean Moshe Porat said in a statement.

“The Fox School’s plans for 1810 Liacouras Walk are evolving constantly,” he said. “We anticipate our vision for this space will be formalized over the coming months, and upon subsequent university approval.”

In a July interview with The Temple News, Diana Knudsen, a senior vice dean in the Fox School of Business, said 1810 Liacouras Walk would be renovated in time for Fox’s Centennial Celebration in Fall 2018.

The School of Pharmacy on the Health Sciences Campus invested $1.5 million in “infrastructure improvements and renovations” over the past year, said Dr. Michael Borenstein, the senior associate dean for operations at the School of Pharmacy.

This money helped create the Kendig Museum in the School of Pharmacy. The museum houses more than 100 years of pharmaceutical artifacts including relics like drug jars, wooden scales and weights, gold needles and a first aid kit from World War I, according to the school’s website.

The school also converted 1,500 square feet of a computer lab into residency spaces for students on fellowships. These students can use these spaces to meet with patients privately, Borenstein said. The school added seven new research and pharmacy-dispensing laboratories for students and Temple University Hospital to use.

After undergoing a name change, the Lew Klein College of Media and Communication is raising funds to open a new facility for a converged media center. The converged media center would be a place for student media outlets to work together, The Temple News reported last month.

The new Student Health and Wellness Center on 15th Street near Montgomery Avenue will hold the College of Public Health’s clinical program and new “smart” classrooms. The facility will double as a recreation center as well, with a 70-yard indoor turf field, a climbing wall and free weights for student use. The SHWC is set to open in Fall 2017.

There are no immediate construction updates for the Boyer College of Music and Dance or the School of Theater, Media and Film Arts, said David Brown, Boyer’s assistant dean.

“I wish we had some construction,” Brown said. “We’re running out of space.”

The only construction planned for the two schools is an addition to the top of Tomlinson Theater and possible new buildings across from the College of Engineering on 12th Street near Norris, according to plans from Visualize Temple. But this construction could be five to 10 years away, Brown said.

Source: Temple News