String of Successes Noted by BVU Senior
Job Saunders found a welcoming place as a freshman when he stopped by the Center for Academic Excellence, a key component of a $4.3 million Phase II remodeling effort which will begin in May.
Standing at the threshold of his final semester at Buena Vista University, Job Saunders exhales and smiles.
“Job (sound out the long ‘o’) well done,” you might say.
Saunders has plenty to celebrate; mainly, the release of his solo album, “Shredder,” whose music he wrote, played, recorded, mixed, and mastered. He did all of it within the Lage Communications recording studio, a facility he reworked under the tutelage of Dr. David Klee, professor of music and director of musical production and technology.
“I remember how my parents’ faces lit up when they heard that tutoring sessions are offered to BVU students for free.”
Job Saunders
“I came here for BVU’s great music production program and the opportunity to learn from and work with Dr. Klee, who really understood my work and where I was coming from,” says Saunders, a violinist who plays more than 21 instruments.
Where this musician came from is another story. And it leads to a chapter detailing how BVU is building upon its success, literally.
A freshman year at college can be daunting enough, the first time a young person pushes out on their own. For Saunders, a couple of factors heightened the challenge. First, he was 663 miles from his home in Aurora, Colo., where he left a support network fading in the rearview mirror as he drove east to Iowa.
Second, Saunders is autistic.
“I had to learn a lot about social interaction, due to autism,” he says.
Saunders found a welcoming place as a freshman when he stopped by the Center for Academic Excellence inside Siebens Forum. The CAE, as it’s known, is a key component of a $4.3 million Phase II remodeling effort approved by the BVU Board of Trustees. The project, which will dramatically update and repurpose areas within Ballou Library, opening it for additional uses and widespread services offered by University personnel, is set to commence following BVU’s 2020 Commencement.
The Center of Academic Excellence and BVU’s Information Technology (IT) Department will move to the current library to create a new hub for teaching, learning and innovation. The new space will increase in size and boast of more modern amenities, allowing each of the departments opportunities to better serve the growing and changing needs of an expanding student body, faculty, and staff; goals reflected in the University’s strategic plan.
An anonymous gift of $1.5 million spearheaded this project, an extension of the renovation of the Harold Walter Siebens School of Business/Siebens Forum. The Forum renovation had continued with the opening of the new South Forum Lawn Patio on Homecoming weekend in September.
“The feedback we received from students, staff, faculty, alumni, community members, and guests in the months following the opening of the renovated Siebens Forum was incredibly positive,” says BVU President Joshua Merchant. “We are thrilled and grateful to be able to extend this important next step in our effort to make a truly state-of-the-art academic facility even that much stronger for everyone.”
“We are so excited about what Phase II will accomplish for our students and the experience they’ll have in better utilizing their spaces in the library and at the Center for Academic Excellence,” adds Suzette Radke, vice president for finance and administration at BVU. “Creating a modern space and experience for our students is our number one priority.”
The first floor of the library will transition into space for the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) and the IT Department. Currently, those departments are adjacent to one another west of the library main entrance in Siebens Forum.
“We have students studying and being tutored in the CAE in a spill-over hallway area, which isn’t ideal,” Radke says. “The CAE, which continues to serve a growing number of students, will now receive dedicated space with state-of-the-art technology on the library’s first floor.”
The CAE will also have a room dedicated to testing, allowing BVU education majors, for example, to remain on campus for the Praxis™ exams. Two sensory rooms will be added in the CAE space for students on the autism spectrum.
Saunders nods while learning of the plans to enhance the CAE, a place that helped him set his BVU trajectory as a freshman. He sought assistance there while struggling in a psychology course.
“I remember how my parents’ faces lit up when they heard that tutoring sessions are offered to BVU students for free,” Saunders says. “Psychology was a scary course for me in my freshman year. I reached out to find a tutor there and learned pretty quickly I wasn’t the only person on campus who struggled with a class.”
The Center for Academic Excellence, he says, was staffed by pros and peers who allowed Saunders to feel comfortable. “I learned who I could open up to, and I learned I could make mistakes and that it would be OK to fail sometimes,” he says.
The family-friendly environment made a difference for Saunders, who showed his growth by becoming a tutor himself as an upperclassman, working to educate others within his comfort zone: the recording studio at Lage Communication Center.
Technology Department to Receive Upgrades
The IT Department will also have an area on the first floor in the library. Additionally, IT professionals will have access to new classroom space within the facility, allowing them to guide faculty on the latest offerings in technology to enhance classroom and lab instruction.
“If a faculty member wants to try out something new in the way of technology, doing so in the IT area makes perfect sense,” Radke says.
Study rooms on the library’s lower level will be renovated and will feature modern technological tools, allowing for alternative setups for individual sessions or group projects and meetings. Those areas remain in high demand, especially during evening hours, as students conduct meetings, research discussions, and more.
The bulk of the library’s book collection will be moved to the second floor, which will feature a reading area. BVU’s extensive archives collection will remain on the second floor, as will study carrels for students.
The library’s top level is set to feature a new space in the Mack, Mack, and Mack Boardroom, which is designated to host meetings of the BVU Board of Trustees, among others. The handicap-accessible room, which can serve 30-40 people, is close to the Office of the President and remains accessible to those visiting or working in the Office of University Development and Alumni Engagement.
The boardroom will be easily modified to serve a variety of meetings and events for a number of visitors to campus. BVU’s Common Grounds coffee shop will also receive updates in Forum Phase II, which is expected to be complete by the start of the 2020-21 academic year.