COOKEVILLE – Anyone making a quick trip around Tennessee Tech’s campus can see that there is a lot going on these days.
Work on the Tennessee Tech of tomorrow continues throughout the summer with large projects such as the new Student Recreation Center, the new Lab Sciences Building and the Roaden University Center expansion. However, what is not always noticed is the amount of work that campus facilities staff do over the summer.
“Summer is a prime time for a lot of campus projects due to the decrease in students during the summer sessions,” said Jack Butler, associate vice president for facilities and business services. “We always try to minimize any impact on the campus community when we do our work, and summer and university breaks give us the best opportunity.”
One of the major construction projects on campus is the Roaden University Center expansion which is scheduled for completion in October. While the renovation of the Multipurpose Room has been completed, in order to facilitate the installation of new electrical service in the RUC, a potentially week-long outage will begin on Sunday, July 1. This is in addition to the short-term outage scheduled on June 23.
The university has worked to schedule this outage so it would have the least impact on campus, settling on the Independence Day holiday week.
Beginning Sunday, July 1, the building will be without power, with service expected to be restored no later than Monday, July 9.
During the outage, faculty, staff and students will not have access to the building, and offices housed in the RUC will be temporarily relocated to other campus locations. For more information, visit https://blogs.tntech.edu/rightnow/2018/06/19/ruc-closure-starting-sunday-july-1/.
Meanwhile, other State Building Commission projects continue such as:
• Student Recreation Center steel erection has begun; expected completion date of facility is January 2020
• Infrastructure work for the new Lab Science Building is scheduled to be completed this summer, with expected completion of the facility in May 2020
• Browning/Evins renovation continues, expected to finish in April 2019
• New chilled water plant will start up the end of June
• Installation of a new digital scoreboard in Tucker Stadium has begun
Aside from the State Building Commission projects, there are other Office of Facilities projects going on around campus such as:
• Old Financial Aid suite in the Roaden University Center is being converted into space for Dean of Students office, Greek Life and Student Government Association
• Renovation to the vice president of Student Affairs suite in the Roaden University Center
• Replace floor covering at Volpe Library entrance and in front of restrooms; changing from carpet to ceramic tile; to be completed before Great Move-In Day
• Service desk in the library will be reconfigured as MyTech assuming responsibility for laptop distribution in library
• Fisheries Lab will be relocated from Old Maintenance Building to West Stadium in July
• Exterior brick repair to Johnson Hall from vehicle damage in July
• Several classrooms being updated across campus
• Lighting installation in Tucker Stadium parking lot
• Upgrading campus tornado sirens
