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Connect with Red Butte (or Localscapes, etc) to replace water intensive and unused grass areas into people-focused native plantings. More benches and hammocks and tables surrounded by beautiful and wild plants, less muddy trampled lawn. More connection to place though local plants, connection to community with edible plants, and connection to nature with classes and research on these areas.
The U needs more EV Chargers that actually work , in more places on campus, and are positioned so people can plug in correctly. EV drivers need access to EV chargers during winter, and not have snow piled up in front of the chargers to block them like what happens at Lassonde Studios. Employees need more remote days and flexibility. TRAX needs more trains and an Express Red Line during key commute times.
Buildings need to be remodeled to 21st-century standards of access, safety, and usability. SSB is like a throwback to the Hawkins Lab in "Stranger Things." It's dark, dank, and dismal. Locks, doors, HVAC, etc..., should all work properly.
An International Student Center - separate from ISSS - where students can gather, learn about campus-wide events, and ask questions to a small staff, including student workers, familiar with international student issues and that collaborates with offices that serve international students (i.e. ISSS, housing, student health, learning / writing centers, academic departments...). This would be a welcoming space for international students that is completely supportive in nature and seeking to connect international students with domestic students, programs, and resources across campus. The center would also welcome domestic students seeking opportunities to connect with international students in regard to language and cultural exchange as well as well study abroad questions and preparation. Many universities successfully operate such a space, typically called an International Student Center. to the benefit of all student and campus community.
Create a location for students to physically find and access academic advising. Academic advising (outside of new student orientation) is the only resource on campus students are required to interact with, and yet, so often advisors' offices are located in cubicles, down dark hallways, in basements, spread out across campus, perhaps no office at all and only available virtually. Let's create a space that is welcoming and easily identifiable for students. Prioritizing a space for advising sends a message to students that we as a university want students to be able to more easily find answers to their academic/curricular questions and to know they have encouragement and support while working toward their degrees.
Highlight sustainability features in new buildings and landscape features (e.g. signage highlighting LEED certification, bio-swales, water-wise landscaping)
In the future I would like to see Red Butte Garden integrated into the scientific development of the University. Finally fund the garden and its employees to help develop it into an absolute top tier, industry leading botanical garden. Collaborate with them to build a horticultural science department, a botany program of study for University students, expand upon Utah specific conservation research (funneling PhD seeking research through red butte for plant trialing and climate change research), and continue to build the tree collection of our states arboretum (which includes the campus grounds and red butte garden).
Please continue equity, diversity and inclusion efforts,
promote cohesion with all members of the U community (HCI, ARUP, etc.),
opportunities for healthcare staff and researchers to connect with members of the community for partnerships and/or receive education on cultural information,
increase initiatives towards climate change/making campus more green
this also includes more charging stations if there's a need, particularly in patient and staff parking areas.
Look at Fort Douglas to meet multiple campus growth needs, including health care and health sciences facilities, food and consumer services, rail/shuttle transportation services, parking, and recreation.
There needs to be more healthy food availability through the University as well as with private partners. Students would benefit from having less of a need to leave campus or the surrounding neighborhood for groceries, shopping, activities, nightlife opportunities, and other day to day necessities.
We need a live parking system integrated online so that students, staff and faculty can see in real time what spaces are available as well as reserve spaces in advance if they have certain parking permits.
PLEASE significantly increase the amount of parking available on the campus and reduce the cost! This is a HUGE stress/deterrent to all students, staff (especially healthcare), and faculty!! The roadways need to be maintained better because the potholes we drive through are like off-roading to work and class. Large grassy/open areas are nice, but we could use more picnic tables and places to sit.
Consider walkability and biking/scooter paths more seriously - provide reasonable routes that connect campus hubs and are safe (don't suddely end in a road or parking lot), direct/signposted, and have shade options for the hot summer months.
Provide more pleasant outdoor spaces with seating and shade.
Convert large grassy areas to xeriscape; in other areas and near sidewalks, plant more trees to provide shade and cooling.
Encourage restaurant/coffeeshop business development near and throughout campus. The medical campus in particular is a food desert.
Replace huge parking lots with space-efficient parking structures, but also advocate for expansion of transit services so that more people will not need to drive. Phase out most of the reserved parking spaces, many of which seem empty most of the time and take up large amounts of room.
Make the campus more bike friendly and reduce traffic density/parking burden. This would include improving safe bike routes on and around campus that connect employees and students to residential corridors, providing accessible, convenient and secure bike storage, protecting bikers and pedestrians from the torrent of commuter cars, restrict/limit cars for students that live on campus.
More student housing is needed - and that includes graduate students! Parking woes could be alleviated if students didn't have to live in Magna to find affordable rents.
Disperse student housing throughout campus and put new housing closer to academic buildings. When student housing is more than a mile from class, are students really living "on campus?"
Prioritize quality in new construction and renovation. Shoddy construction of a pretty-looking building gives great photo ops when it's opened, but then the building starts breaking within ten years. Ask the actual building occupants what they need - letting form lead instead of function leads to occupants having to work around the constraints of their buildings.
More direct access to campus for people commuting from the north end of the valley. 3 Trax transfers just to catch the redline to campus encourages driving. I would use Trax, but I feel like I can't.
Build campus to invite students, staff, and faculty to appreciate how our institution runs. Give a peak into mechanical rooms with one-line diagrams on the glass to show how design decisions are made. Invite people to appreciate our state arboretum with signage ways to learn more.
Universal design should be a priority in every "refresh" "renovation" and "new construction". Don't add accessible features as an after-thought. Everyone can use ramps. Everyone can feel comfortable in an all-gender restroom with changing table for parents and a nursing room for young mothers. I want to commend the team that advocated for, designed and built the new restroom in the Marriott Library. It should be a model for every new restroom built or renovated on our campus and beyond.
I work in PAB. It is a cool historical building that doesn't tell ANY of its story, unfortunately. It's barren. It looks forgotten. The second floor it terribly patched up and looks nearly abandoned. Windows are inefficient and inoperable under decades of paint layers. The window cleaning has sometimes been skipped/delayed due to us having some offices with lower occupancy. There is no elevator or lift for people with wheelchairs to get to our offices on the 2nd floor. More upsetting is, our lab 101 and the classroom 103 have no access to a restroom for wheelchair users without them having to exit the building, wheeling to the opposite end of the building and coming up the ramp to the floor with the restrooms. Science departments, theater and our summer program are using room 103 at a much higher rate this year, and a resolution hasn't yet been communicated to us. This is basically unfathomable to me in our day in age so many decades after the ADA has been in place.
Universal design in every renovation project must be included. Even the recent re-fresh of room 103. There are stairs to the emergency exit at the back of the classroom. So many large classroom spaces only have one entrance/exit, which can be very dangerous in the case of an active shooter or other emergency where we need to evacuate. Also, many offices do not have windows or peep-holes which can be a safety concern, especially as I have heard expressed by some female faculty and faculty who are concerned about guns on campus. Adding a window to existing doors can cost $300-500. Would be great if those safety features could be integrated from the start, not the financial burden of the organization after the fact.
Walkability and pedestrian safety need improvement. To go from the bookstore to the Wellness Center in the Dentistry building on Wakara, you have to walk along incredibly busy roadways with few overpasses and some long stretches between safe crossings (like on Mario Capecchi). There is a path that kind of crosses the creek behind the Professional Health Building, but there is a barb-wire gate there as you have to cross onto military property to walk through their parking lot to end up back on Mario Capecchi. Prioritize walking/rolling and better cross-campus to Research Park connections.
As an alumnus and staff, I would like to see less construction and more investment in faculty and students (and staff). My grad school years were in BUC, a basic sufficient not-new structure, and what mattered most was that enough peers, faculty, and staff had time to teach my classes and respond to me about research and such. Campus facilities are terrific. It's the human infrastructure we get from retention and low faculty-student ratios that help people excel in the formative parts of their academic career. The only other suggestion I have is to make buildings as accessible as possible for people with disabilities.
Parking is big challenge on campus. Converting parking lots into parking structures would be helpful in alleviating both the current parking problem, and the deteriorating parking situation that is arising as parking lots are being removed to add new on-campus housing.
I would like to see a few more parking structures, I think it would be smart to put Solar parking canopy covers on the top level to help reduce the price. the parking structures in the middle of campus are not taller than the two levels. the outer areas are 3-4 high levels. I like how much green space we have. I would like to see more tables under the trees in the green spaces. I also think it would be great if the students had a place to garden by the Dorms I know there is a place down by the Park building and Chemistry area, but upper campus and student living would be a great way for them to get healthy food but get to know others. a community gardening area in all Student Housing areas. More Food places on campus, and a small grocery store. like the one downtown.
Our campus should be a leader in new innovative sustainable buildings and grounds. There are already so many budding and developed technologies that we should be putting to use. London and DC already have kinetic walkways to help power the section's street lights at night. Imagine what we could power with the foot traffic of thousands of students and staff. There are better more sustainable ways of lighting and cooling our buildings, with some solutions being as simple as changing the color of the outside or by utilizing more plants.
Someone has to lead the way into a future without heavy reliance on fossil fuels, and it might as well be us. There is nothing to be gained by doing business as usual just like every other university on the planet.
Transform the current Fort Douglas space into something amazing. Make accessible walking paths from Research Park to the rest of campus. Help the flow into Research Park feel more organic and that it's more connected to the rest of the university.
The quad where SMBB is located, and where the Price Computing and Engineering Bldg. is going to be built will be needed for other engineering buildings. In the past 10 years, 80% of the growth in undergraduate enrollment has come from the College of Engineering. This is likely to continue, as the tech sector in the Utah economy is the fastest-growing of any tech industry in the country. Therefore, this space should be reserved for the growth of physical facilities for the Price College of Engineering.
Parking is needed. During summer turn parking lots into parking structures. During summer is important so parking isn’t taken away during the school year. The lot at Kahlert should have been a structure from the start.
Housing. Student apartments near campus are needed. If there is a way to do it, it should be done.
There is no where for students to hang out, eat, etc walking distance from campus. No college town at all. The U should find a way to develop a few blocks adjacent to campus with places for students to hang out like most colleges have. No “college town” makes it feel like a commuter campus. A market, variety of food places, dessert places, etc would be great.
Health. Students need a student health center on campus that is easily accessed and an urgent care they don’t have to travel by track or Uber to visit when the SHC is closed.
Nature. The campus is beautiful. Maintain the nature and open space.
Recreation. Develop more student rec areas so students have places to gather and spend time on campus when not studying or in class. Tennis courts, hiking paths, basketball courts, grass areas for gathering with places to grab snacks. Bring concerts to campus with bands students want to see.
Food. The dorm food experience needs to be improved. Hours, options, etc. it’s very limited in practice.
Need more campus recreational spaces/activities on campus including biking/hiking trails, skateboard park, tennis courts, pickleball courts, basketball courts, etc. There needs to be more water wise gardening, growing vegetables/fruit for campus dining operations, and reclamation of water.
Preserve and enhance open spaces. This should include formal and informal open spaces for a variety of activities. Enhance Red Butte Creek and make it a place where urban and natural blend. Protect the arboretum and design open spaces that can be used year-round.
promote cohesion with all members of the U community (HCI, ARUP, etc.),
opportunities for healthcare staff and researchers to connect with members of the community for partnerships and/or receive education on cultural information,
increase initiatives towards climate change/making campus more green
this also includes more charging stations if there's a need, particularly in patient and staff parking areas.
Provide more pleasant outdoor spaces with seating and shade.
Convert large grassy areas to xeriscape; in other areas and near sidewalks, plant more trees to provide shade and cooling.
Encourage restaurant/coffeeshop business development near and throughout campus. The medical campus in particular is a food desert.
Replace huge parking lots with space-efficient parking structures, but also advocate for expansion of transit services so that more people will not need to drive. Phase out most of the reserved parking spaces, many of which seem empty most of the time and take up large amounts of room.
I work in PAB. It is a cool historical building that doesn't tell ANY of its story, unfortunately. It's barren. It looks forgotten. The second floor it terribly patched up and looks nearly abandoned. Windows are inefficient and inoperable under decades of paint layers. The window cleaning has sometimes been skipped/delayed due to us having some offices with lower occupancy. There is no elevator or lift for people with wheelchairs to get to our offices on the 2nd floor. More upsetting is, our lab 101 and the classroom 103 have no access to a restroom for wheelchair users without them having to exit the building, wheeling to the opposite end of the building and coming up the ramp to the floor with the restrooms. Science departments, theater and our summer program are using room 103 at a much higher rate this year, and a resolution hasn't yet been communicated to us. This is basically unfathomable to me in our day in age so many decades after the ADA has been in place.
Universal design in every renovation project must be included. Even the recent re-fresh of room 103. There are stairs to the emergency exit at the back of the classroom. So many large classroom spaces only have one entrance/exit, which can be very dangerous in the case of an active shooter or other emergency where we need to evacuate. Also, many offices do not have windows or peep-holes which can be a safety concern, especially as I have heard expressed by some female faculty and faculty who are concerned about guns on campus. Adding a window to existing doors can cost $300-500. Would be great if those safety features could be integrated from the start, not the financial burden of the organization after the fact.
Walkability and pedestrian safety need improvement. To go from the bookstore to the Wellness Center in the Dentistry building on Wakara, you have to walk along incredibly busy roadways with few overpasses and some long stretches between safe crossings (like on Mario Capecchi). There is a path that kind of crosses the creek behind the Professional Health Building, but there is a barb-wire gate there as you have to cross onto military property to walk through their parking lot to end up back on Mario Capecchi. Prioritize walking/rolling and better cross-campus to Research Park connections.
Someone has to lead the way into a future without heavy reliance on fossil fuels, and it might as well be us. There is nothing to be gained by doing business as usual just like every other university on the planet.
Housing. Student apartments near campus are needed. If there is a way to do it, it should be done.
There is no where for students to hang out, eat, etc walking distance from campus. No college town at all. The U should find a way to develop a few blocks adjacent to campus with places for students to hang out like most colleges have. No “college town” makes it feel like a commuter campus. A market, variety of food places, dessert places, etc would be great.
Health. Students need a student health center on campus that is easily accessed and an urgent care they don’t have to travel by track or Uber to visit when the SHC is closed.
Nature. The campus is beautiful. Maintain the nature and open space.
Recreation. Develop more student rec areas so students have places to gather and spend time on campus when not studying or in class. Tennis courts, hiking paths, basketball courts, grass areas for gathering with places to grab snacks. Bring concerts to campus with bands students want to see.
Food. The dorm food experience needs to be improved. Hours, options, etc. it’s very limited in practice.