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NEWS
| february 12, 2004
Housing
Residence hall to open on schedule
Named in memory of alumna and
late astronaut Kalpana Chawla, it will house 421 students from the
Mavericks Scholars program.
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| The Shorthorn: Sergios Rahmatoulin |
The Kalpana Chawla Hall construction
is under progress and is on schedule. The residence hal
named after the UTA alumna who died in the Columbia Shuttle
tragedy will start housing
students this fall semester. |
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By English
Young
Contributor to The Shorthorn
Administrators say construction of Kalpana Chawla Hall remains on
schedule despite the wet weeks of winter.
The bricks for the exterior will soon arrive, and they are scheduled
to be laid in the next week, Physical Plant Director Jeff Johnson
said. The weather has complicated construction crews’ work
but has not derailed the project timeline. The residence hall is
scheduled to open in the fall.
“It’s going extremely well,” Johnson said.
The budget is set at $20.7 million. The hall is located on Oak Street,
near the Business Building and Pickard Hall, across Pecan Street
from Lipscomb Hall.
According to the Campus Master Plan, the hall is one of six residence
halls expected to be built by 2020. It is the first since Arlington
Hall was completed in 2002.
The residence hall is dedicated in memory of Kalpana Chawla, an
alumna who died in 2003 with six other astronauts when the Columbia
Space Shuttle broke apart while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
It was Chawla’s second space mission.
Chawla did her aerospace engineering graduate studies here, earning
her master’s degree in 1984. She enjoyed her education and
loved her classes. Her math professors intrigued her, she said.
She became an astronaut 12 years after arriving in the United States
from her homeland, India. She was Columbia’s mission specialist.
The new hall will house 421 residents from the Maverick Scholars
program who will participate in a Residential Learning Community
or a Freshman Interest Group. Groups will live, study and take classes
together in an effort to form a tight-knit campus community.
Besides allowing students to work together, the program will bring
instructors to the hall as mentors.
Nine resident assistants, two full-time directors and 10 peer counselors
will staff the residence hall.
It will feature amenities such as a pool table, a full kitchen and
each floor will include computer labs, study lounges and laundry
rooms.
This is not the only student housing under construction. Meadow
Run apartments will begin its phase two renovation, in September.
The addition is 96 new units. Half will be one-bedroom and the other
will be two-bedroom apartments. It’s expected to be complete
in August 2005.
CORRECTION
This story should have said Arlington Hall
was completed in 2000.
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