The Board of Visitors discussed possible solutions to address space constraints in Garrett Hall — home of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy — in a recent Building and Grounds Committee meeting April 25.
When the committee discussed various future plans for growth and development on and around Grounds, Batten Dean Allan Stam presented on current and future space needs for Batten students.
The Batten school consists of both undergraduate and graduate students, and with course enrollment at approximately 3,800 — up from 1,200 in the 2011-12 school year — the space may no longer be suitable to meet the needs of growing class numbers and additional courses.
The University, in a collective effort with the the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Architect, conducted a space needs assessment study of the Batten School in 2015. The study found the current space available is 14,650 net assignable square feet, while the current “right-sized” space would be anywhere from 36,020-37,380 net assignable square feet.
Taking into account future growth and development, the study projected about 47,480 to 48,840 net assignable square feet will be needed.
Bruce Vlk, director of communications and marketing at the Batten School, said future needs include classroom and student work space.
“With student enrollment growth and the addition of new faculty members, future needs include classroom space, research labs, faculty office space, dedicated student work space and a dedicated event space,” Vlk said in an email statement
Colette Sheehy, senior vice president of operations, said the space constraint is somewhat due to the cross-discipline and specialized graduate courses offered in the Batten School.
“While the school may not really be growing its [undergraduate] population, it does have designs on its graduate students, and offering more courses for graduate students, and courses for undergraduates to take in the Batten school although they may be enrolled in another school,” Sheehy said.
Sheehy said part of the process is finding additional space for the growing needs of the program, whether that means finding available room on Grounds or trying more creative methods.
“[Stam] is very interested in sharing spaces with other schools and programs that relate to the Batten school, so it would not be exclusively Batten school space but other programs that would share the same space,” Sheehy said.
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