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Utah State University began life in 1888
as Utah Agricultural College and was granted land
in the northern part of the state
in the mountainous agricultural setting of Cache Valley.
The original Cache Valley campus sits in a prominent position
along the shoreline of the ancient Lake Bonneville, east
of downtown Logan.
The first building housed classrooms and offices
for the faculty, and within a year,
a new addition was built to the north.
Shortly thereafter, a second edition was built,
and the building now known as Old Main has remained
in continuous use ever since.
The national firm of White, [? Hubbert, ?] and [? Pray, ?]
from New York was hired to develop the first master plan.
As a result, additional buildings
have been organized around a quadrangle of open green space.
The quad has served as a training ground, classroom,
recreational space, and arboretum.
Over the years, the college grew despite
difficult economic times and two world wars.
It has, throughout the years, kept
its core mission of teaching, research, and extension
or outreach as the guiding principle of growth as it has
responded to historic events.
By the early 1900s, parking had become a challenge
as many of the students traveled to campus by private car.
The college has, for the most part,
respected the original street pattern of the town
by planning growth around the same 600 feet by 600 feet grid
as the city blocks.
The grid provides a convenient organization
of pedestrian and vehicular traffic,
as well as utilities to serve the campus.
As well as a strong street pattern
guiding the campus growth, the principle
of accommodating increasing enrollment with a balance
of land uses has prevailed.
Safe vehicular and pedestrian circulation
and a clear definition of the space between buildings
have allowed growth to occur without a major upheaval
to the campus or the city.
The GI Bill and the need to educate returning veterans
after World War II led to a spurt in campus construction
that added many buildings, including campus housing
and fueled the now healthy housing rental
market in Logan City.
While the main campus is located in Cache Valley,
the university has regional campuses in Tooele, the Uintah
Basin, Brigham City, and education centers
throughout the state.
In the summer of 2010, the College of Eastern Utah
merged with Utah State University,
creating a partnership which will be mutually beneficial.
The College of Eastern Utah has been a longstanding institution
in Utah, established since 1937 with campuses
in Price and Blanding.
Since the last public presentation of the master
plan, a number of new buildings have been constructed
and existing buildings renovated.
For example, the new 66,000 square foot Emma Eccles Jones
Early Childhood Education and Research Center
has been constructed.
This facility houses classrooms, offices, and research spaces,
specializing in early childhood education and development.
It also provides space for two preschools,
including a state of the art preschool for deaf children.
The placement and orientation of the new building
allows the creation of a new campus quadrangle,
uniting the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human
Services buildings as well as providing play areas
for children.
The new 112,000 square foot USTAR Bioinnovations Research
Building houses top researchers in the fields of microbiology,
life sciences, and advanced nutrition
and is working closely with the scientific industry
within the state of Utah.
The building has achieved LEED Gold certification.
A new equine education center and arena
has been completed, providing a facility for classes
in writing and husbandry skills on USU's south campus farm
site.
At the Uintah Basin Regional Campus [INAUDIBLE],,
the Bingham Entrepreneurship and Energy Research Center
was completed in 2010.
This LEED Gold facility houses advanced theoretical
and applied research and training in energy, biology,
chemistry, geology, and natural resources.
This research will be relevant to local and regional
economic development of Eastern Utah's vast mineral resources.
The Utah State University Botanical Center in Kaysville
continues to grow, featuring a new 6,500 square foot
distance learning classroom building recently completed
in the spring of 2011.
Over the past six years, USU has prioritized ongoing classroom
upgrades campus wide.
Each year, 15 to 20 classrooms have
been renovated to include lighting, finishes,
whiteboards, and infrastructure for smart classroom technology.
By the end of 2011, most classroom upgrades
will be complete and thereafter will
be placed on a rotating maintenance schedule.
The planning of these new buildings and future ones
has always been a participatory process involving students,
faculty, donors, administrators, as well
as state and local officials.
The campus has benefited from a succession of administrators
and planners who have shared a serious commitment
to the visual quality of the campus fabric,
as well as the academic quality of programs offered.
That commitment still exists and will continue because research
has shown that an attractive campus
setting is important to students when choosing an institution.
As growth continues, the university
is faced with finite land resources.
Expansion is limited on all sides
by topography and surrounding neighborhoods.
In 1998, the university commissioned the national firm
of Sasaki and Associates from Boston to study the campus
and make recommendations for accommodating growth
that would also preserve the character of the campus's
physical fabric.
That study indicated that enrollment
could increase from 16,000 full-time equivalent on campus
to 26,000 without the need to acquire more land by replacing
single story buildings with three and four-story buildings.
The Sasaki study recommended that campus entrances and nodes
of activity should be strengthened
and linkages developed and preserved.
Green spaces should be preserved and new quadrangles
and courtyards developed as density increases.
New academic buildings should be within a five-minute walking
distance from the center of campus.
The study recommended that parking structures
should replace surface lots over time, as new buildings become
necessary.
An example of planning for growth while preserving land
can be seen in the library edition.
The university was able to reduce
the footprint of the facility by using a high density
system for storage of books that are not in high demand.
Because the physical resources for campus growth are finite,
the university has pursued a number
of sustainable initiatives.
The central energy plant completed in 2002
replaced the coal fired boilers with modern gas
fired ones and reduced air pollution in the Valley
from 265 tons to 20 tons annually.
Natural gas is the primary fuel source,
while other alternatives continue to be investigated.
The bus system now operates on natural gas, rather than
diesel fuel.
The air conditioners in many buildings
have been replaced with more efficient central chillers that
pipe cold water to buildings through underground tunnels.
The south facade of the new college of agriculture building
will incorporate solar photovoltaic panels.
USU is investigating the potential
for development of a new large scale solar power
array near the USU substation.
In the same area, a feasibility study
has been conducted to evaluate the potential
to generate wind power at the mouth of Logan Canyon.
The study results indicate that the site has the potential
to generate up to 2 megawatts of power for the university.
Other opportunities to reduce energy use of buildings
are being studied such as adding solar shades and green roofs
to buildings.
The planning staff and facilities
helps identify strategies for the placement of new buildings
and the phasing out of old buildings.
Certain buildings by their and architectural merit
must be preserved and remodeled.
Others lack the infrastructure or are
incompatible to support the science being
researched and taught in them.
Some buildings have been converted
from their original use and will eventually
need to be replaced as land becomes more valuable.
The new 121,000 square foot College of Agriculture building
is under construction.
This $48 million facility was primarily funded
with state capital development funds
and sits on a prominent and historic site
to the east of the quad.
The building will replace the existing ag science building,
which is aging and not in compliance with modern life
safety code requirements.
The university enrollment continues
to increase on campuses throughout the state.
The number of new students is at an all time high.
New buildings are needed to accommodate students
and expanding programs.
USU continues to lead in providing
higher educational opportunities statewide.
Enrollment was up 17% on regional campuses
in the spring of 2011.
The regional campuses and distance education program
is constructing a new $10 million
38,000 square foot classroom building on the Logan campus
to serve this growing segment.
This year, an expansion to the business building
has been funded through a combination of state and donor
dollars.
The new facility will consist of a $30 million
90,000 square foot addition to the south side of the existing
business building, allowing for expansion,
increased functionality, and visibility for the John M.
Huntsman School of Business.
The building known as the Barn has
contained a mixture of classrooms, offices,
and scientific laboratories.
Built in 1896 for the purpose of housing livestock,
this building is one of the oldest on campus.
To preserve it as an important landmark,
extensive renovation is needed to address code requirements
and functionality issues.
Programming has been completed to explore
the potential of the building to house
the anthropology museum and a Welcome Center
for the university.
The Fine Arts Center has not had any significant upgrades
since it was built in 1969.
In 2010, a facilities plan was completed
to assess the needs of the building,
establish priorities, and develop
a strategy for improvements.
This study identified the need to replace the old fly
system in the major venues, and this project
was completed in 2010 with capital improvement dollars.
Other major priorities include adding
a sprinkler system, seismic bracing,
and emergency lighting.
The aging mechanical and lighting systems
need to be upgraded.
The catwalks are a safety concern,
and the theatrical lighting is wearing out and obsolete.
The historic Animal Science building was built in 1918
and occupies a prominent site on the quad.
It is in need of a major renovation
to address structural and life safety deficiencies.
It houses a mixture of classrooms and laboratories
that belong to a variety of colleges.
The building lacks basic amenities,
like air conditioning.
It is constructed of unreinforced masonry
walls and concrete floors.
The timber roof structure is not seismically connected
to the walls.
The Biology and Natural Resources building
was constructed in 1959 and has reached the point
where a major overhaul is needed of the mechanical ventilation
and heating system.
The building has seismic problems
that need to be addressed, and the exterior wall system
is extremely inefficient.
The Health, Physical Education, and Recreation building
contains classrooms that are centrally scheduled
as well as labs for the Emma Eccles Jones College
of Education and Human Services.
The building was constructed in 1970,
and there is a major need to expand this facility
to accommodate the significant increase in student population
over the past 40 years.
The building lacks much of the modern equipment needed
for the study of exercise science.
The pools are aging.
There is need for new ventilation equipment
and a water treatment system.
The primary need for the USU eastern campus in Price
is a replacement of the aging music building and the Geary
Theatre.
Both buildings have significant life safety and ADA issues.
Functionally, the project will bring together theater, music,
and visual arts into one facility
on campus on the historic site of the now demolished Old Main
building.
Most of the recent growth at USU Eastern
has been at its San Juan campus in Blanding,
which serves a large area of students from the Four Corners
region.
This growth has exacerbated the need for additional housing
on the campus.
The current resident halls are full,
and the private rental market is not
equipped to support campus residential growth.
Program and enrollment growth at the regional campuses
has led to the need for expansion
at Brigham City, where commercial buildings are being
adapted for short-term growth.
Master planning is underway for a new 48-acre campus
site, recently purchased by USU to accommodate
long-term growth.
The new land is a Brownfield site,
occupied by dilapidated buildings historically used
as a Naval hospital and Native American school.
The new location is ideally situated
near downtown Brigham City with convenient and safe access
from Main Street and Highway 89-91.
Planning has begun for the first building on the new site, which
will accommodate the first phase of the transition
to the new campus.
The Tooele regional campus has recently
completed an 18,000 square foot addition
to their current facility.
Additionally, they have received a generous donation
of 30 acres of land from Tooele City
and have purchased 32 acres of adjacent property.
A 50-year comprehensive master plan for the campus
will be completed in 2011.
The Tooele Applied Technology Center
received funding this year from the state
and is partnering with USU Tooele
to construct a new facility on the new property for shared
use by both programs.
USU is in the process of master planning
40 acres of land south of Moab that
will be the future location of a new campus.
As a destination campus with regionally relevant programs,
the student body is anticipated to grow to 300 to 500 students
within five years with corresponding increases
in faculty, staff, and programs.
Master planning efforts at USU have
expanded to include new campuses throughout Utah,
where much of the growth is occurring.
It will continue to seek to progressively
enhance the university environment,
whether in Logan or elsewhere.
The plans will change and evolve in an open, iterative,
and creative process based on our principles
for land use, density, open space, circulation, parking,
and infrastructure.
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