How the Project Will Help the Norton School Fulfill Its Mission

McClelland Park is integral to the Norton School 's effort to better achieve its mission of strengthening families, communities, and the marketplace. The three key issues that face the organization are managing growth, striving for greater excellence, and increasing resources in an era of diminished state support for education and increasing demand for services.

Managing Growth -Demand for the Norton School 's services has grown tremendously in recent years. Over the next decade, the number of majors is expected to grow from approximately 750 to 1,000 undergraduates and the graduate population to increase to 60 students (from approximately 40). The last of the four newly established endowed chair positions will be filled, strengthening and expanding the school's research and outreach programs. The current Family and Consumer Sciences Building is too small for these uses; McClelland Park by contrast will accommodate this level of use and has room for growth. The chart below shows the dramatic increase in space the new building will provide:

In addition to providing more sheer space, the new building will also be more efficient in its use of that space, creating numerous operating efficiencies. For example, McClelland Park will feature a Student Services Center that will allow us to perform advising in one centralized location, increasing our ability to manage enrollment more efficiently. Career services for students and recruitment opportunities for industry will also be greatly enhanced. We will be able to use the lobby/student lounge and the Lakin Family Plaza , as well as the auditorium and conference rooms, for a career fair and other meetings with executives. We expect to attract even more interest from students and corporations when recruiters are able to come to our building as opposed to having to find space somewhere else on campus, if it is even available. More classes can be held onsite, providing for more efficient communication between faculty and students, especially as the student population grows. ( The Norton School will have priority access to the classrooms, and when available, other classes will be scheduled in those rooms.)

Striving for Greater Excellence -The greater and better spaces will enhance our ability to achieve our mission in so many ways. Expanded office, classroom, and research facilities will help enormously with faculty recruitment and retention at a university where "brain drain" to better-resourced institutions is a grave threat. Currently, Norton School faculty must go to another building on campus to do research, as there is no designated space for that purpose in the current building. With onsite facilities, researchers will no longer waste time moving from building to building and will be able to collaborate more. The new facilities also provide opportunities for more student involvement as they are trained in the onsite lab. Honors students will have their own designated work space for thesis projects.

The new building will attract more students who wish to be majors, allowing us to set higher standards, and the new classrooms and student spaces will give us the capacity to serve those students better with improved technology, more lectures, seminars, and other events, and more course offerings. We will be able to add to the building a new Honors' Center, thereby increasing our recruitment of Honors students and improving facilities for their research and other activities. And we will be able to offer more honors sections of courses.

Outreach facilities will be greatly enhanced with improved access for off-campus visitors (nearby parking, greater accessibility) and an expanded and updated Cooperative Extension suite-the first dedicated space on campus for use by statewide Extension personnel. Industry partners will also benefit from improved accessibility, increased research activity by faculty, greater access to students as interns and employees, and better meeting and conference facilities. Finally, we consider diversity an element of excellence. Space limits our growth and ability to attract employees and extramural grants, so with greater space, we will have more to offer job candidates from diverse backgrounds. The new facilities available to the Family Studies and Human Development Division will help us enhance the visibility of family issues related to diversity.

Increasing Resources - McClelland Park will enhance our ability to secure both internal and external resources. The new building will embody the importance of the Norton School's work on behalf of families, communities, and the marketplace-and its ability to recruit high caliber researchers who can bring millions of research dollars, train students, and create new knowledge. Donors will be impressed when they return to campus to see the growth of the program. The symbolism of the building will be a major factor in our success when requesting resources from the central administration and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The new building will also have very practical effects on our ability to secure research contracts. For example, one candidate who recently interviewed for the newly established Fitch Nesbitt Early Childhood Chair would bring a $8M grant with him; he stated that he could not join the faculty without access to an observation lab, which is planned for the new building.

Additionally, the new building will generate a great deal of enthusiasm among our current major donors and young, future donors. These individuals and organizations will be part of a historic moment in the Norton School 's history, and we will build on that connection in the future. New and expanded facilities present numerous opportunities to build relationships. Donors and prospects will have easy access from off campus to tour the building. The large lobby and Lakin Family Plaza are being designed with their use as flexible event venues in mind. Conference rooms and the director's suite will be the site of meetings and workshops with corporate executives.

The availability of conference rooms may seem just a minor boon, but it will solve a real problem we currently have with fund raising. Right now, space is so tight that to schedule an onsite donor meeting of more than a handful of people means we have to ask a professor to move or cancel a scheduled class, just to use the room. Obviously, we can't ask professors to cancel classes on a regular basis. Instead of vying for space with students, in McClelland Park , we will have access to several meeting rooms, including a conference room and executive room, as well as a central kitchen with catering service available. These facilities will greatly enhance our ability to host donors and prospects on campus.

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