Skidmore News

Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Cover Story

Media Credit: Savannah Grier [Click to enlarge]

Exams end, dorms close, and students rush airports and train stations to return home. We'll return to a college changed in ways beyond vacuumed floors and fixed doors. Over the summer, staff plans new additions and renovations across campus. Here, we offer an early glimpse of what these changes entail.

"We're anything but dead in the summer. It's just a slightly different mode." -- John Weber, Dayton Director of the Tang

On June 18, the Tang will unveil its newest exhibition, called "Lives of the Hudson." Like the "Molecules That Matter" of 2007-2008, this show represents an interdisciplinary effort within the college. "In some ways, it's based on a book that [Tom Lewis, professor in the English department] did a few years ago on the Hudson," said Dayton Director of the Tang John Weber. "It traces back the Hudson from the time before the Europeans came, really looking at the history of the river from a number of different points of view."

The themes of the show consist of looking at the natural, imagined, human and working facets of the river's history. Varied artists like Thomas Cole and Jasper Cropsey present their work in conjunction with items dealing with material culture, from postcards to magazines. "It's going to be a really fun show," Weber said.

For those students out of the area, a recent Getty grant means they can enjoy the exhibit from home. The Tang's new digital programs create a 360 degree photographic documentation of shows. "These allow you to get a much better sense of what the show really looks like and what it was like to be in it," Weber said. Viewers can also enjoy supplementary information about each exhibit. "We'll add in responses from the artists who were in the shows, from critics, curators, visitors, and historians," he said. These additions to the website will appear by this coming fall.

Students staying in the Saratoga area this summer can enjoy the Tang's free weekly Upbeat on the Roof rooftop concerts. "A lot of jazz, swing, folk," Weber said. They take place at 7 p.m. every Friday in the Tang. "On days where the weather's nice, it's a really fun thing to do," he said.


"Libraries are changing. They're very organic places. Change keeps them feeling vital and vibrant." -- Ruth Copans, librarian

Come this fall, students will see another change in the Gallant Reading Room, which hosted the DVD selection earlier this year. "We're going to move a lot of our popular and current periodicals into that space," librarian Ruth Copans said. By displaying these more artistically, Copans said she hopes to encourage more readership of the library's print media. "The way that they are in the shelves now, piled up, it's hard to appreciate them," she said.

Students who depend on the library's computer access will be pleased to see new additions to the current fleet of Macs and PCs. "We are getting new tables in the bibliographic instruction room, so we'll finally be able to get flat screen monitors in there," Copans said. "Where we had 15 work stations in there, we'll now have 20."

But she said she is most excited about new improvements to the library Web site. "It will be more visually appealing, informational, but also user-friendly," Copans said. She plans to utilize the new layout to promote lesser-known facets of the library, like student art and in-library student musical performances.

The end effect of these changes, Copans said, will be a fuller utilization of the resources the library has to offer. "We invest very heavily in our collection, so we want them to be used," she said. "If they're not being used, then there's no point in having them."

"Budgets are the talk of every college campus at this point. Things are tough, but what we try to do is best use the dollars we have." -- Gail Cummings-Danson, athletic director

Budgetary restrictions leads Gail Cummings-Danson, athletic director, to express caution in planning short-term improvements to the Sports Center. "We'll have upgrades. But they're not the glitzy upgrades that you might hope to come back to campus to," she said.

While she said she hopes to see indoor tennis courts, a new boathouse, a renovated riding center and larger locker rooms, Cummings-Danson does not expect to see any of these soon. "It's a dream list," she said. "When I win the lottery and give back to Skidmore, those are the things that are going to be on my list to earmark the funds for."

With the Power Ball jackpot still a winning ticket away, she looks to fundraisers like this summer's golf and tennis event. "We cater that to our alumni, as well as our own community on campus," she said. Students in the Saratoga Springs area this summer can drop by Saratoga National Golf Club on June 20.

Large-scale improvements might be thousands of dollars away, but students can expect to see small changes in the facilities this fall. "There has been a push to make the cardio room larger, reconfiguring, adding new machines, putting the TVs in different places and more of them," Cummings-Danson said. "We want to make sure we can fulfill, within our capability, the needs of the campus."

"Our planning for the fall mostly deals with reducing cost while providing quality food." -- Bill Canney, director of Dining Services

When the word came down that Dining Services would have to cut costs, Bill Canney said his first priority was maintaining the school's diverse and high-quality menu. Dining Services staff began comparing various vendors to try to get the best deal. "We're looking at samples of food weekly," Canney said.

Despite the budgetary pressure, he said he hopes to continue to improve the options available to students outside the Murray-Aikens Dining Hall. "Depending on trustee approval, we'll be renovating the atrium to provide more home meal replacements," Canney said. Specifically, he said he wants to push for more microwavable meal offerings. "We are the 'nuke generation,' so adding more variety to the atrium offerings could be very popular," he said.

Students might have seen Canney standing in dorm common rooms, asking students for their thoughts on the dining hall offerings. The responses range from more late night salads to extra nights serving General Tso's chicken. While he said he keeps every suggestion in mind, he sees general student satisfaction with their meals. "I'd say that 95 percent of comments are positive," he said.

"There's one residential hall renovated every year. This year's choice will be Kimball." -- Rob Hill, VP for Residential Affairs

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