(VIDEO) Fifteen classrooms/laboratories, 24 Raider Rooms and 14 restrooms have been renovated since Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec approved the initiative in 2016.
In 2016, Texas Tech University President Lawrence Schovanec initiated renovations to some of the buildings, classrooms and laboratories across the university through the Presidential Forum. Each renovation addresses the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), life-safety updates and facilities aesthetics. Technology, teaching and lab equipment and instructional modality of classrooms also are updated to support current instructional, learning and experiential needs.
Updates to the Architecture, Chemistry and Science buildings, Building 557 at Reese Technology Center, the Bayer Plant Science Building and Holden Hall were completed in 2017. Since then, 15 classrooms/labs, 24 Raider Rooms and 14 restrooms have all received much-needed facelifts.
The university is ensuring that all spaces are accessible and comply with today's life-safety codes. The restrooms and drinking fountains that support each renovated lab and classroom also are being renovated for accessibility. Drinking fountains with bottle fillers are being installed at locations where the drinking fountains are replaced. Historic preservation was integrated into the renovation of Chemistry 107 where the lecture hall was restored back to the original design while integrating accessibility and modern amenities.
Improvements include replacing all lights with LED fixtures to increase energy efficiency, installing low-flow fume hoods in the labs and modifying heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
Raider Rooms are instructional classrooms supported by the President's Office through the Space Allocation Committee. When a classroom is renovated via the Presidential Forum projects, that classroom – if it wasn't one already – is converted to a Raider Room which becomes centrally managed and supported through the Operations Division's Department of Events and Instructional Space Management.
Raider Rooms are located throughout campus varying in capacity and technology abilities. Each room is available for scheduling via the faculty or instructors' normal scheduling process within the department or college. New technology is being installed in each class, lab and Raider Room. This technology includes new motorized projection screens and/or large digital displays, ceiling-mounted projectors, podiums, speakers and microphones.
In some rooms, the new audio/visual upgrades include distance learning capabilities. Where feasible, power receptacles are being added in the Raider Rooms at each seat so laptops and other devices can be charged. Sound attenuation also is being added (i.e. acoustical wall panels, acoustical ceilings and insulation in the walls). Technology within the classroom is updated through funding from the President's Office on a regular basis.
The President's Office funds these projects upon annual review and approval of the recommended classrooms and class labs projects with the use of higher education funds. President Schovanec has committed $20 million overall to the renovations, with the last of them scheduled for completion by the end of 2023.
Buildings included in the renovations are:
• Architecture
• Bayer Plant Science
• Chemistry
• Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures
• Electrical Engineering
• English & Philosophy
• The College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources' Goddard Building
• Holden Hall
• Horticulture Gardens and Greenhouse Complex
• Human Sciences
• Livestock Arena
• Mathematics & Statistics
• Mechanical Engineering South
• Reese 557
• Science
To view a map of the buildings, click here.
