A Place to Call Home
Much like a big family whose
members are scattered across the country, the schools and departments of the
College of Public Affairs and Community Service since its inception in 1973
have been spread about the UNO campus.
In three years, though, the
CPACS family finally will come together in the former Engineering Building,
which is to be substantially redesigned and modernized to become the college's
new home.
CPACS administrators are eager
for that day to come.
Currently, CPACS administrators,
faculty and the nationally-recognized programs they oversee are housed in eight
buildings stretching from Annex 24 to Arts and Sciences Hall.
When the 150 full- and part-time
staff members come together in 2009 at the former Engineering Building, to be
known as the CPACS Building, the end result will reflect the mission of the
college—to foster a comprehensive, high-quality learning environment, conduct
research and provide professional services to the community.
While some work will be done to
the exterior of the Engineering Building—most notably two planned additions—the
majority of the changes will take place inside. The building's 1957 high school
design featuring long hallways and rows of anonymous classroom and office doors
will be replaced with open areas, seminar and meeting rooms, multi-use
classrooms and offices where the emphasis is on space separated by little more
than light and glass.
"We want it to reflect the
culture of our college," says Sara Woods, assistant dean.
The open areas, which will
include community open spaces that lead to labs and classrooms, are designed to
facilitate increased student access to faculty and collaboration between the
departments and faculty, students and the community, Woods says.
"We are a Ph.D.-granting college
with many, many award-winning programs," she adds. "We want the building to be
an open, interactive environment that emphasizes our outreach."
George Killian, manager of
planning and architectural services at UNO, says the renovation, funded with
state support to be allocated over the next three years, will cost
approximately $14.2 million.
The two additions, which will
total 20,000 square feet of space, will by funded by private dollars and cost
approximately $4.43 million.
HDR, Inc. provided the
architectural design. W. Boyd Jones Construction Co. is the construction
manager. Completion is planned for August 2009, but could be accelerated if the
funding were available more quickly. If private dollars for the additions are
obtained early in the project, that construction could run concurrent with the
renovation, Killian says.
He credits Steve Shogrin of HDR
with designs "that will update the building, yet not date the building. We
wanted something that would be complementary to the university and in 20 or 40
years people would still be able to admire."
The open floor plate within the
building, he says, "conveys a collaborative statement, one that is very
flexible, very user-friendly and very high-tech."
One faculty member looked at
plans for the building's open center space and called it "the living room."
"Actually, that's the
comfortable, welcoming feel we're after," Killian says. "It really will be
CPACS' living room."
Sketch: Remodeled north entrance of the CPACS building.
Sketch courtesy HDR, Inc.
Here and There
CPACS and its current locations:
• Aviation
Institute—Allwine Hall
• Department of
Criminal Justice—Durham Science Center
• School of Social
Work—Annex 40
• Division of
Continuing Studies—Arts & Sciences Hall
• Department of
Gerontology—Annex 24
• Goodrich
Scholarship Program—Annex 24
• School of Public
Administration—Annex 27
• William Brennan
Institute of Labor Studies—Peter Kiewit Conference Center
• Center for
Public Affairs Research—Engineering Building
Back to top
The College of Public Affairs and Community Service
presented the 2006 Hubert Locke Award for Distinguished Service to Alvin M.
Goodwin, former president of the Omaha Economic Development Corporation. The
award honors the first permanent dean at CPACS and recognizes exemplary
commitment to the ideals of public service through professional activities,
community service and philanthropy.
Eight CPACS graduates received Alumni Awards for
Excellence in Public Service:
• Carlos Barrientos, video
producer and former WOWT photographer;
• Connie Benjamin, state
director, American Association of Retired Persons;
• U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel;
• Terri S. Harder, judge,
Nebraska's Tenth Judicial District;
• Kim Kern, assistant director
for social work, Mary Lanning Behavioral Services, and her husband, Pat Kern,
director of social services, Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital in Hastings;
• Ann O'Connor, vice president,
Nebraska community services, Heartland Family Service; and,
• Douglas Russell, M.D.,
co-founder, Oak View Internal Medicine.
The awards were presented at a luncheon April 12
Back to top
CORE Initiative Links UNO,
Community
Governmental and non-profit service providers
challenged by tight budgets or an increasing demand from public and private
donors to demonstrate sustainable outcomes now have an ally in the UNO Center
for Organizational Research and Evaluation (CORE).
Administered by the College of Public Affairs
and Community Service, CORE is a multi-disciplinary initiative that brings
together the university's extensive resources in organizational and program
performance analysis, planning and applied research. CORE draws from a
campus-wide pool of faculty, staff and graduate students to provide
evaluations, technical assistance, strategic planning and focused research
studies.
Through its base in CPACS, CORE serves as the
primary point of contact and management for organizations to take advantage of
the university's collective expertise. Dr. Russell Smith, director of the
School of Public Administration, is CORE's director. To date, 25 UNO faculty
members have agreed to participate.
CORE is contacting representatives of
governmental and non-profit agencies to make them aware of the center's
services.
For more information, contact Smith at (402)
554-2625 or email him at rsmith@mail.unomaha.edu.
Back to top
CPACS, OPPD to Administer
Energy Initiative
Saving energy and saving money are good
things. The College of Public Affairs and Community Service aims to help people
do both.
The Omaha Public Power District and UNO have
tapped CPACS to administer a campus-wide initiative that will explore how the
demand for energy by individuals and small businesses may be substantially
reduced through the application and use of the science and technology for
energy conservation, says CPACS Dean B.J. Reed.
The Energy-Saving Potential (ESP) program also
seeks research and application models to better assist individuals and small
businesses in reducing consumption and the cost of their energy needs.
Reed says research clusters of faculty,
students and staff will examine energy conservation through research,
model-testing, public policy analysis and development and assessment of pilot
programs and services.
While CPACS will administer the program, an
advisory board of representatives from OPPD and UNO will oversee its implementation.
OPPD will fund ESP up to $500,000 annually
through 2010.
OPPD President Gary Gates says finding ways to
apply new technologies to conserve energy can cut costs for producers and
assist budget-conscious consumers.
"We believe this is something that makes a lot
of economic sense and potentially will benefit everyone," Gates says.
Back to top
