Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - The summer signals a break for most students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, but as the institution readies for a new crop of freshmen later this month, several university departments are hard at work to make sure everything is in place before the fall semester begins.

Director of Student Housing Rhonda Viney said Aug. 2 marks the beginning of training for residence hall personnel as they prepare for the Aug. 29 residence halls move-in date. A host of resident assistants in each of the resident halls help new and continuing students living on their floor adjust to campus life. They are supervised by one resident director per hall, and program directors help plan activities for students. Resident directors will arrive for a full week of training the first week of August, followed by program directors the next week. Eighty-one resident assistants will arrive for two-weeks of training beginning Aug. 15.

"There is centralized training, where we get everyone together and talk about things we want all of them to hear, and the resident directors also coordinate training at the building level. They talk about what their in-hall expectations are of each other," Viney said. "We feel our training is very beneficial in making them prepared, and that's a strong focus because we want students to come away with good experiences."

The residence halls open for students to move in Sunday, Aug. 29. New students will be able to move in during the morning, while the afternoon will open the halls up to all students.

"In general, we just want this to be a welcoming environment," Viney said. "We're glad to get people back, and get back in the swing of things."

While the housing department is making sure new students have a place to stay, Dining Services will make sure there is enough food to go around.

By mid-August, Dining Services will begin to receive large food orders to prepare for the influx of students, Associate Director of Dining Services Joey Schoonover said. But getting ready doesn't just mean preparing food.

"One of the things we're doing is some redecoration of Glenview Commons. We're also doing some menu revisions, which we do every fall," Schoonover said. "Things change in a year in this business. If you look at what restaurants were serving a year ago, that has changed. We're always looking at different things, trying to stay current."

For Dining Services, getting ready for the new academic year also means hiring a new tally of student employees. Schoonover said the department employs between 350 and 400 students, and around 40-50 percent of their student staff is hired new every year as students graduate or find other jobs. While the better part of August is surely a hectic time for Dining Services, Schoonover said it's also an exciting time.

"It's just one of those things where in a couple weeks we'll all gear up and just do what we have to do," she said. "Believe me, by the end of the first two or three weeks of school, everyone is tired. It is busy, but it's fun. It's fun to see everyone's faces when they come back."

With fewer students on campus, the summer also provides a great opportunity for work crews to spruce up university grounds. Buildings and grounds crews are tasked with the upkeep of flower beds, trees, grasses and athletic fields. Assistant Director of Facilities Management Mike Udelhofen said summer grounds crews, which include several students, were involved with several additional improvement projects. They cleaned up the area south of the Pioneer Greenhouse, improved three sand volleyball courts near the residence halls and worked on the grounds surrounding the Pioneer Student Center.

Students and staff returning to campus may be surprised to find a new water garden on the south side of the student center. Buildings and grounds crews built the garden which features water rolling down a gradual four foot six inch drop into a large pool on the south end. Across the sidewalk, hundreds of blue floss flowers and orange marigolds have been planted.

"An important piece of recruiting students to this campus is the quality of the campus environment, how warm, friendly, well-designed and well-maintained the campus is," Chancellor David Markee said.

Also during the summer, the university collaborated with the City of Platteville to replace the chain link fence marking the front side boundary of Greenwood Cemetery with a new, more decorative fence. Meanwhile, renovation continues on historic Ullrich Hall, which university officials plan to reopen as a state-of-the-art academic building for computer science and business classes in January 2005. Work to replace heating and air conditioning systems in Pioneer Tower continues "on schedule," and faculty members should be able to move back in by mid-August.

More than 1,100 new students are expected to arrive on campus Sunday, Aug. 29 as orientation begins. Fall semester classes start Thursday, Sept. 2.