Who's who?

OK, we've entered what might be the Minnesota dog days of summer. What are the main characteristics? Morning dew points over 70 f. The main sound one hears while reading on the deck at 10:30 PM is the collection of neighborhood air-conditioners. And - the whole town smells like corn. You have to be here to get that one.

Given all that, it's sort of hard to blog, or really do much of anything. Although - I did manage to run around the countryside smelling said corn on my new Harley Street Glide last night just at sun down, and that was refreshing.

Topic for today - who’s who?

Hundreds of people have worked on Regents Hall so it's hard to get up close and personal with too many. A few groups have been especially important and I'll try to acknowledge some today.

The Design Team has been together for a while now, and has done great work shaping spaces that remove barriers to their pedagogical aspirations. The team’s original charge was development of the space program the designers would respond to, but they have stayed on and been helpful with all phases of the project. They’ve worked with their departments, the planners and programmers, the architects, engineers and the Design-Build Team, and taken on very different roles than their normal charges. I believe they’ve learned maybe as much as they’ve contributed – and they’ve contributed immensely. The whole college gets stronger when people can help shape their environments.

The team includes representatives from each of the five departments – biologists Anne Walter and Charles Umbanhowar, Jr. , Chemists Mary Walczak and Paul Jackson, Matt Richey from mathematics and computer science, physicist Dave Nitz, and psychologist Chuck Huff. In addition, three students provided valuable input and reactions. They are Ian Campbell '07, Ian Vaagenes '07, and Kristen Roys '07.

Assistant Provost Arnie Ostebee, Registrar Mary Cisar, and Assistant Vice-President for Facilities Pete Sandberg are an integral part of the design team.

The Design-Build Team includes Boldt Construction staffers: Jim McConachie, senior blah, blah, blah; Kelly Newman, superintendent; Dave Jeffers, mechanical engineer from Boldt Technical Services; Scott Morton, senior estimator; Eric Siebers, LEED specialist; Bob Huber, senior scheduler; Josh Christianson, field engineer; and Cheryl Spartz, office manager.

In addition, the team includes St. Olaf Facilities staff: Perry Kruse ‘69, assistant director of facilities for engineering; Bill Nelson ’73, assistant director of facilities for building services, Craig Dunton, director of telecommunications, and James Fisher, grounds manager. Other St. Olaf folks come and go as their area is in focus and they include: Tony Skalski, Roberta Lembke, and Dana Thompson, of Information and Instructional Technologies, Katie McKenna and Peter Abrahamson, Bon Appetit.

Very many of Holabird and Root’s architects and engineers contributed throughout, but the lead persons are: James Baird, principal; Ernie Wagner, project manager; Greg Grunloh, project architect; Ryan Kosmicki, interiors; Chyanne Hauser, architect; Jerry Abernathy, electrical engineer, Mike Luster and Brett Gordon, mechanical engineers, and Greg Olson, plumbing designer.

Because this is a Design-Build project, representatives from the mechanical and electrical contractors, and the laboratory equipment supplier were included from the start, and to a great extent, helped design the systems they’ve since constructed.