Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of heading up to Minneapolis with members of the Advance Team to check out the Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. We met with staff from Coffman to talk about planning for the opening of a new building. The staff shared their experiences from moving back into Coffman when they renovated it in 2003.

While I was at Coffman, I had a chance to sit in on the weekly meeting of U of M’s student programming board. I learned that the Wisconsin Union as an organization is a lot more complex than most other student unions. Another thing I realized is that it is hard to not have a bias against other unions when you have invested so much time into the success of your own.

This brings me to the next part of our trip, the UW-River Falls University Center. We visited River Falls on our way back from Minneapolis to benchmark sustainability features at their union. It was also nice to see the River Falls University Center in the flesh because it was built by Workshop Architects, who are building the New South Campus Union. I was better able to visualize what our new union is going to look like. It gave me some piece of mind to see how well their union turned out, which makes me even more excited for ours.

These will give you a better idea of what I’m talking about:

It wasn’t all work, no play, though. Between union visits we were able to take some time out and enjoy ourselves:

Here are some shots of the whole team:

The Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) sits on the 5th floor of the Union. Inspiration struck me this afternoon to photograph some of the students (and staff) that are helping plan how WUD will function in the new south campus union. Take a look at some of these candid moments from this dreary Thursday:

Ethan is a member of the Building Project Student Outreach Team and the WUD Music Committee. He was on the phone with his mom wishing her a happy birthday.

Will Hoffman has given blood, sweat and tears over the course of the project by helping with design and operational planning. We think he should be the face of the project.

Robin Schmoldt is a former program advisor and now a member of the Advance Team. She knows way too much about the Wisconsin Union.

Nicole Rodriguez is the Art Committee Director. She's shaping the new union gallery space for posterity's sake.

X. the Union President, is our fearless leader.

John Ash is also a member of the Student Outreach Team and WUD Music Committee. He's the hardest working guy I know.

I'm just trying to keep the project lighthearted and fun.

Could you see your face alongside these great folks?

Last Monday, Oct. 19, Hoofers President Paul Davidsaver conducted a program visioning retreat regarding the new union with about 50 other Hoofers leaders. Paul gave a broad overview of the project including some history and a review of the floor plans. He said those in attendance were able to think about the new union “with and without their ‘Hoofers’ hats’ on.” The retreat was highly successful because the Hoofers were able to think about the new building not just in regards to what it allows for Hoofers but for the Union and student body as a whole. It was great to have such a diversity of opinions working through some of these broader questions we continue to chip away at internally.

Take a look at some photos from the retreat:

A captive audience waiting for Paul to kick off the evening

The group breaks out to focus their discussion

Focusing on the floor plans

Minds at work

Teamwork

Making sure everyone's voice is heard

With two retreats under our belts, we are getting a little closer to determining how WUD (and Hoofers) will operate in the new building. Keep coming back for more updated and exciting visuals.

On Saturday morning I rolled out of bed at 7:30am to trek across campus to Engineering Mall for Badger Bash. Outreach team members John and Brigid helped me hand out free hot chocolate and talk about the NSCU with the game day crowd. It was a great chance to bring the project to the people.

John manning the battle station

Looking at some renderings with the first few guests

John taking a breather

Trying to keep up with the crowds

The UW Band playing various renditions of "On Wisconsin"

Basking in the sunshine after a morning's labor

Note to self: get two five-gallon jugs of hot chocolate next time. Our supply ran out after the first hour. The second hour we had to turn up the charm and chat with folks while handing out Wisconsin Union Initiative buttons. All in all, a great success.

It was a busy weekend on the building project front. I held a meeting with the building project student outreach team in lieu of riding on the WUD float in the Homecoming Parade. I have managed to schedule meetings two years in a row now during the Homecoming Parade. What a coincidence!

At the outreach team meeting we established what we think students want to know about the building and how we are going to get that information to them. Our first order of business was establishing 5 different guerilla marketing campaigns that each outreach team member will head up. Not to spoil the surprise but we have plans to get a Babcock Ice Cream flavor named after the project…

Getting started

Showing John the ropes

Brigid hammering out details

Melody has an idea

Trying to explain something to the team

Meeting adjourned!

Success!

Expect to see these faces more. These folks will be doing a lot of crazy things this year to bring the project to you.

Posted in Designs ]]> http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/wheels-are-turning/feed/ 2 ptilley Photo1 Photo2 Photo3 Photo4 Photo5 Photo6 Photo7 http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/hmm/ http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/hmm/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:47:51 +0000 ptilley http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/?p=630 ]]>

Tomorrow, I will be attending a meeting for the West Wing renovation of Memorial Union. We are in the visioning processes for how we want that space to “feel.” One of the main goals is to make the West Wing at Memorial Union a hub for the arts. It’s a pretty weighty task to be thinking about how you envision the renovation taking place when the finished product is so far off. It is even harder to fathom when you realize you will be graduating long before that finished product comes into being.

Now that we are beginning to engage in the MU renovation more heavily you will receive two-fold updates: one for the NSCU and one for MU. It will be interesting to receive your thoughts over the next months on the subjects. It will be even more interesting to see how we in the Union balance both undertakings.

Below are my note sheets of half-baked ideas that I came up with during a 20-minute brainstorm prepping for tomorrow’s meeting. Good luck reading them:

Enjoy!

This is an exciting day for all of the loyal readers. There are actually some pictures to look at of students hard at work. The following are from the Building Project Mini-Retreat that I ran on Saturday at the Breese Terrace Union.

This is at the beginning when I am laying out the tasks for the day.

Music Committee and Society & Politics Committee members duking it out.

Me saying something stupid.

Art and Film Committees having a good laugh.

Music and SoPo having a good time.

The retreat gave us a chance to get different members of all WUD committees in the same room working through assumptions about how WUD is going to program the new building.

It came at the perfect time because the discussions we had prepped Paul Davidsaver and I for the Advance Team meeting, where we actually did some work! At Monday’s meeting we went through the building to look at what spaces should be reservable, semi-reservable and non-reservable. The nomenclature we use on the team isn’t always the clearest. Things are happening and its exciting.

Posted in Designs ]]> http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/pictures-from-saturdays-retreat/feed/ 0 ptilley IMG_2720 IMG_2721 IMG_2722 IMG_2723 IMG_2724 IMG_2725 http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/taking-care-of-business/ http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/taking-care-of-business/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:42:15 +0000 ptilley http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/?p=604 ]]>

Well, if there is anything this position has taught me in the past month it is that you have to stay organized and plan ahead. Which, I think I have done fairly well so fair. I’ve been slowly chipping away at some long term projects in between an almost overwhelming array of meetings.

Let me relate the past week to you with some brevity:

Last Thursday’s Union Council meeting went an hour longer than expected because of a last minute agenda item. We had a very passionate discussion about whether to reinstate the Design Committee or not for the remainder of the New South Campus Union project. No decision was made by the end of the meeting but we will potentially revisit this item at the next meeting in November.

Monday marked yet another meeting of the Advance Team and wouldn’t you believe it, we almost started to make some decisions. We are beginning to look at space reservation and use in the New Union and how Central Reservations will operate within the new building and Memorial Union. Members of the Advance Team are going to consult their respective divisions for advice.

Today (Tuesday), I met with the first two students who are interested in being a part of the Building Project Student Outreach Team. The Student Outreach Team will be comprised of four WUD Committee members who will help plan and implement various grassroots events and also maintain our social networking tools, all in order to publicize the building project and get the word out to students and you, the faithful public. Expect to hear more from the Student Outreach Team Members as we are feverishly planning some initial events for the month of October.

Anything you want to hear about that isn’t being said? Drop a comment and let me know.

Also, thank you for your patience with the project website. Union Marketing is trying to improve it and get more information up on there for your viewing pleasure.

Today I walked the WUD Directors through the floor plans and design abstracts and provided them with a sample of a programming framework that I hope they will develop for their respective committees. Our conversation sparked a lot of fresh discussion and created new ideas that will certainly steer the Union in the right direction while planning for the opening of the new building. I am confident in the leadership abilities of the current Directors. They will be an invaluable aid in this planning process as they bring a wealth of programming knowledge to the table along with some great insight.

Something on the horizon for the group is a mini-retreat on Oct. 10 to flesh out our future programming ideas. I look forward to working with the Directors to craft what will become the vision for programming our new union.

Oh, I also forgot to take pictures. All the more reason to keep visiting the blog. Soon enough you will be able to put faces to us.

We’ve decided to take this blog in a different direction from here on out. You will now receive the musings of students involved with the building project more regularly, rather than being formally updated on project information. The New Union website will serve as the primary home for building project information. Look for exciting things to come on that website in the not-so-distant future.

As for me: today was spent in meetings. The Advanced Team met from 12-3pm at the Breese Terrace Union and grappled with organizational decisions for the majority of the meeting. So far we have not successfully stuck to the agenda in our first two meetings. Third times a charm, I hope. The bottom line is that the building is not opening tomorrow and we are planning now so that you can enjoy it later. Let’s just presume that the meetings will not be at the pre-planning stages forever. Mark has his fingers crossed. But of course I’m being sensational. WUD will be moving forward with laying out the framework for future programming of both the New South Campus Union and Memorial Union. To this point, a lot of good ideas have been generated by the student leadership and if we can see half of these ideas through, the New South Campus Union will be an exciting place for students to both program and experience events.

I’m going to start photographing the day-to-day for you in order to spice this blog up. Have any ideas of content you want to see or questions about today’s happenings? Post a comment.