Safe-T-Elements, Part II, Christiana West Tower

As in the post last week, this week highlights our continuing program to replace all our traditional electrical stoves on campus with the new Safe-T-Element model that reduces the risk of unattending cooking fires. With the help of Kevin McSweeney, our University Fire Marshall, we managed to replace all the stoves in Christiana West on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Although we first removed the old stoves in the morning, we minimized the disruption to those students here for Winter Session by delivering to them the new stove prior to the end the day. Again as was the case with the Conover West installation, all the stoves were sent to Diamond State Recycling Company in Wilmington, so that there metal content could be re-used. Also, all cardboard packing material for the new stoves was recycled by our Grounds Department.

Conover West gets Safe-T-Element Stoves

Welcome to the New Year and another 12 months of replacements, renos, switches, and various other miscellaneous improvements on UD Campus. We started the new year this week by replacing all the stoves in our graduate housing area in Conover West Apartments with Safe-T-Element stoves. The Safe-T-Element feature prevents unattended cooking fires by regulating the temperature of the burners so that they do not exceed a certain degree, even if left on. Traditional coil burners continue to heat up if left unattended potentially causing a fire. Next week we will be replacing all the stoves in Christiana West with the same Safe-T-Element stoves. After that, all residence hall cooking areas will have the stoves except for the last phase that will hit Residence Life Apartments in the Spring. The photo shows the old stoves being loaded up in a dumpster that won't be going to a landfill, but will be picked up by Diamond State Recycling Company so that the stoves will be recycled and not trashed.

Happy Holidays & To All A Good Night from the UD Campus!

Rodney basement "experiment" expanding

A plan this spring to change the appearance of the basements in the Rodney Commons' buildings has been successful and is now set to expand to the A/B and E/F basements. The new design includes additional lighting, an area carpet, new and different furniture, and the centerpiece is a new flat big screen TV. Most all of the work involved in transforming the areas is completed by our UD Housing Maintenance Staff, including all the electrical and carpentry work. Some furniture has been re-used by re-upholstering pieces through our Housing Upholstery Shop. Although the start in A/B includes just the initial framing of the new walls, the plan is to have everything complete by the beginning of the Spring Semester in early February 2010.

Dickinson kitchens back in play

Today I have a video blog on some changes that we are making in the Dickinson Commons areas in order to improve the appearence and functionality of the spaces. Dickinson is the only complex without public area kitchens, but by working with Kevin McSweeney, the UD Fire Marshall, we have come up with a plan to re-establish the kitchen areas and also upgrade the whole functionality of the Commons Lounges. Future plans include painting and new big screen TVs for the Commons Lounge areas.

Triple furniture done right

In support of the extended housing program, we try to provide the best possible furniture experience, given that we don't want to load up a traditional double room with too many pieces so that there is no room to function. Many years ago we started buying a better quality desk that was closer in style and functionality to the "permanent" desks that the other two residents would be using. In addition, we purchased third beds that could be adjusted up and down like the permanent ones to increase storage space. This week we received delivery of some additional new extended housing desks that will allow us to purge the oldest desks still in the pipeline. Although we haven't come close to the number in many years, we have enough extended housing furniture to set up 200 rooms if needed. This fall we started with a total of 112 rooms and are down to less than 70 now. At the end of the Fall Semester all those still in extended housing will be offered a new assignment.

Re-working Rodney Spaces

In the past two years we have tried to give the Rodney Complex some updates to its' "sixties" appearence by using paint and flooring to change the dated look of some of the spaces. This week the Rodney A/B Upstairs Commons was the focus, with new carpeting to complement paint and fabric bulletin boards that were added last year. This time the carpet was installed wall to wall to give the area more of a living room feel. In addition to the Commons Lounges, the brick in the tubeways was painted white to brighten up that area and take away from the institutional look of the basic brick. More efforts will be made in the future to address all the areas in Rodney that require an update. Hopefully students that lived in Rodney in past years will return and notice the positive changes.