Welcome to the Spring Semester!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a pleasant break from our normal hectic pace.  Unfortunately, this is going to be an even busier year, so please plan accordingly.  Here’s what’s going on and what you can expect in the months to come:

Construction for the NTHS project at the Mohegan Campus seems to be going very well.  The new shop wing on the west side is nearly “closed in” and some interior work is already proceeding so that having these spaces ready for us to move into this summer is right on track. Construction of the new Gym/ Cafeteria wing at the southeast corner of our building is a couple of weeks behind schedule, but the General Contractor expects to catch up with this work shortly and to also have these spaces available for our use before the end of the summer.  Here are some of the Mohegan Campus milestones that we need to plan for:

• Planning for move to new temporary offices:  We are still working with the NTHS Architects to define the temporary spaces we will all need to move to this coming summer.  As soon as these locations are known for sure, we will pass that information along to everyone. A relocation specialist from INSALCO (the company that provided most of the furnishings in faculty and student services offices) has been hired by DPW to inventory everything we need to move this summer, determine where it will need to go, and then coordinate the actual move of the furnishings involved.  That expertise should make the actual move go much more smoothly.
• Move out of classroom wing at end of spring semester and reoccupation prior to fall semester:  Possibly the most complex piece of our forthcoming summer move will be the temporary closedown of all activities in the classroom wing and the permanent relocation of all offices, storage areas, and most specialty labs and facilities such as the Childcare Center, Nursing Lab, Computer Labs, and Writing Center.  All Science Labs supplies and equipment will also need to be packed up and moved into temporary storage. This all needs to be accomplished prior to Graduation so that the entire classroom wing can be turned over to the Contractor for the summer to complete renovations in all these spaces. Then in late August, we will reoccupy the renovated classrooms and labs on the second and third floors of this wing and set them up for our fall semester classes.  The science labs will return to their former locations but will need to adapt their classes to the renovated NTHS science labs in those locations.  The first floor of the building will not be reoccupied by the college, but will remain under the control of the NTHS contractor for the duration of the project.  In view of the complexity of these many moves, we will be working with all interested offices this semester to develop a specific relocation plan for each space involved.    
• Faculty Relocation:  Another complex piece of this summer’s puzzle will be the relocation of faculty.  Since most faculty do not work during the summer, this means that all those offices need to be packed up prior to Graduation and carefully marked so that everything can be moved to their new locations.  Hopefully, we will only need to move the items once directly to their new home, but there is a slight possibility that items may need to be moved into temporary storage as an interim step in the relocation process.
• Surplus, take-home, throw-away:  In view of these difficult impending moves, now is the perfect time to clean house. Everyone is strongly urged to take all personal items (particularly those of value) home for safekeeping and to carefully screen everything else in order to minimize what we actually have to keep and move with us to our new campus.  If any furniture or equipment is excess (surplus) to our needs, please notify the Director of Facilities so that these items can be scheduled for proper disposal or reuse elsewhere.  Anything else that is no longer required, please throw away or recycle as much as possible.  (For guidance on files that may be record material requiring special approval for disposal, please contact your respective Dean’s Office.)
• Early demolition of Gallery:  We have been advised that the summer 2007 working period may not be long enough for the contractor to complete all the required work necessary to demolish the Gallery and create a new stairwell at the north end of the classroom wing.  In view of this we will probably authorize the early demolition of the Gallery starting about the first of April.  All classes and activities scheduled in the Gallery after April 1st have been moved to other locations.
• Relocation of Cafeteria and Food Service Operations:  The cafeteria and all other food service operations will be closed after Graduation and moved to the new NTHS Cafeteria and Bakery Kitchen for the start of Fall 2007 classes.  No food services will be available at the Mohegan Campus over the summer, except for coin operated beverage and snack machines. A decision on the interim location for these machines is still pending and will be posted as soon as known.
• Review of records storage requirements:  All offices with bulk record and file storage requirements are asked to carefully review these holdings both for interim and long term storage requirements.  To the fullest extent possible, efforts to automate this storage should be completed prior to our move to the new campus.
• Putting everything back together for Fall 2007 classes:  As we review the many complexities of our Summer 2007 moves, we need to recognize that the single goal of these efforts is to have everything back together so that we can begin classes with minimal disruption for our students and our programs. Since this will mean that we will be doing virtually everything differently than we have before, this will clearly be a major learning experience for everyone.  Ideas and recommendations for our journey are therefore always welcome.

Please click here to view the map of access routes to parking on the Thames campus during Phase 1.