Industrial Design Student Takes First Place in National Housewares Competition

Manuel Saez, a senior in Industrial Design, won the first prize of $3,000 in the National Housewares Competition in Chicago for his design of a room air purifier called "Daisy". Twenty-seven schools entered the stiff competition with a total of 210 entries. Manuel also received an honorable mention in the same competition for his design of a new shaving razor.

Taking his inspiration from the plants and flowers that naturally clean the air around us, Argentina-born Saez decided to tackle home purification and add a little design fun to the static box-like design of most small room air purifiers on the market. The result is a totally new and whimsical design that features a bouquet of seven daisies gently cascading out from the top of a small, gum-drop shaped container, which houses the filter, motor and fan. Dirty air is drawn from the bottom, filtered and sent out through the center of each daisy. This is Manuel’s second, first place award. Manuel also won the Grand Prize at the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association’s Safety Design Competition during the New York International Auto Show last April. Manuel is currently President of the Student Chapter of the Industrial Designers’ Society of America. He is an excellent leader and has contributed many hours to the Department and his fellow students, according to Professor Jim Lesko. During the summer Manuel worked as a Design Intern at the award-winning firm Anderson Design of Plainville, CT. UB alumnus Dave Kaiser is Manuel’s supervisor at the firm and says that Manuel far exceeds their expectations. END

The Princeton Review’s 1999 edition of The Gourman Report has rated UB higher than most of our local Connecticut competition ˆ beating out Fairfield University, Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac College. The Gourman Report seeks to rank the quality of undergraduate programs in American and international universities using a numerical index. UB was given a 3.48 ranking, slightly less than Trinity College with 3.62 but better than Fairfield University with 3.04. Scores can go as high as 4.99, with a school like Yale ranked at 4.92. There were 18 criteria examined as part of the rating, including caliber of faculty, facilities and breadth of its curriculum. END

As the spring semester begins, the campus community is beginning to enjoy the renovations completed during winter recess. Most noticeable are the sprucing up of the Marina Dining Hall and the makeover of the Wheeler Recreation Center. "This represents the beginning of several major renovations projects planned for the campus in the coming years," said Paul Engemann, Director of Facilities Management, newly nicknamed the czar. "It shows the University’s commitment toward improving our facilities. The projects have progressed very smoothly and the cooperation everyone has shown during this first phase is much appreciated." "As we further develop the consolidation plans, additional facilities within the core area of campus will also be targeted for improvements, including the upgrading of the heating and air conditioning in Walstrohm Library and energy efficiency projects in other buildings," said Engemann. Special thanks to Dr. Kyung Hee Chin who heads up the renovation committee.

This 44,000 square foot multi-use recreation center has not been renovated or updated since being constructed in 1979. The facility currently consists of a field house, swimming pool with adjacent locker rooms and saunas, a small weight/fitness center and four racquetball courts. The primary objective of this renovation project is create a state of the art fitness and recreation center that will aid in the recruitment and retention of students and staff and also generate revenue through increased membership. Outside of the resurfacing of the flooring in the field house, the first phase of renovations are near completion. According to John Greene, the Director of the Center, "The pool is being resurfaced, the pool house was painted and new lights were installed. The entire ventilation system has been upgraded with air conditioning in the aerobics and fitness areas. Virtually every area has been impacted and I’m very excited about the renovations. A new lobby will be installed with a juice bar area and eventually a new martial arts studio and fitness area will be added. It’s our hope that with these changes, more students will use the facilities. These changes will help meet the health and fitness needs of our entire community and they are a vital portion of the rebirth of the University." Athletic Director Joe DiPuma foresees a re-energized intramurals program centering around Wheeler. "With the renovations, the athletics programs can help put together more opportunities for not only the athletes but, through intramurals, for the other students as well. This spring we’re trying to put together basketball, volleyball and indoor soccer intramurals," said DiPuma. Intramural’s director Bob Buswell can be contacted if students have an interest in these sports or putting together other teams.

Project Status: Phase One, which consists of renovations to the field house and pool area will be substantially complete by February 1st (with the exception of the floor resurfacing which will be completed by July 1st). Phase Two, which consists of the lobby extension and fitness center/martial arts studio will be completed by the beginning of the Fall 2000 semester.

Budget: The total budget is approximately $650,000.

Marina Dining Hall, with its grand vistas of Seaside Park and the Sound, serves approximately 530 people per day. The 44,000 square foot facility was originally constructed in the early 1960’s and has had very little, if any, renovations completed since. The campus consolidation plans call for relocating the dining facility to the Cox Student Center. However, this may not happen for some time. Therefore, renovations aimed at improving the atmosphere and aesthetics of Marina are currently being undertaken. A new drop ceiling and new lighting have been installed as well as a new fire alarm system, emergency lighting and exit signs. The walls were painted and the floor tile repaired. The lobby area will house art work from the art gallery.

Project Status: Complete. Budget: Approximately $75,000.

Carstenson Hall (circa 1899) is utilized as an interfaith center by various religious groups throughout campus. Fred Carstenson, a former University Trustee for whom the building is now named, contributed $150,000 in 1982 for renovations to the 14,500 square foot building. Since that time, however, there has been very little maintenance and virtually no renovation work completed at the building. The primary objective of the current renovation work is to bring the building into compliance with life safety codes and to complete some very basic, but much needed, repairs. Substantial funding will be needed if the building is to ever be completely renovated. At or near completion are new exit and emergency lighting; new fire alarm system; sealing of penetrations, miscellaneous repairs to the porch, columns, portico, roof and gutters; painting of various areas; limited grounds cleanup and tree pruning. Also, new drop ceiling and lighting in kitchen and service hall; new entrance lighting; painting entry walls, stairs and second floor landing; new carpet in entrance, stairs and second floor landing.

Budget: Approximately $35,000. Project Status: The project is approximately 90% complete with final completion scheduled for the next few weeks.

Several options for consolidating various administrative and academic programs to the Wahlstrom Library building have been developed and are currently being reviewed and refined. Each renovation project that has been undertaken or is being planned contains energy efficiency components. These primarily consist of new energy efficient lighting, better controls on heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and better energy management systems. In addition, proposals have been received on a separate performance based energy efficiency initiative for several of the buildings in the core area of campus. This project also includes improving the ventilation system in the Wahlstrom Library. It is hoped that a contract will be awarded for this work in the near future.

Cortright Hall, almost one hundred years old, has been used for a variety of functions over the years but currently only occupies a few people. It has been decided that, once renovated, Cortright Hall will provide a much better location for the Admissions department than their current location on the 6th floor of the Wahlstrom Library. Its easily identifiable and accessible location, along with the character of the building, will create an atmosphere much more conducive to the recruitment of students. "Cortright is a beautiful building that with the right sprucing up can become a warm and welcoming building for parents and students who approach our campus for the first time," said Jocelyne Poisson, Dean of Enrollment Management at UB. A new visitors’ parking lot next to Cortright is also in the works. The idea behind the renovation of Cortright is to provide an easily accessible and highly visible welcome point for visitors to the campus. The newly renovated building and parking lot will provide visitors a convenient beginning point in order to visit many of the important nearby University buildings. Work on Cortright is slated to begin this spring.

Project Status: The scope of work and budget is being finalized. Subject to the availability of funding, it is hoped that Admissions will occupy the building in spring or early summer. Construction plans for the parking lot are completed and work will begin in the spring.

Budget: The final budget is still being developed. However, it is expected to be approximately $125,000 for the building renovations and $100,000 for the parking lot, ADA compliant entrance and related site features (information sign, parking lot Slighting, etc.)

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