The razing of the old building is not so much a demolition as a deconstruction.  It started a few days ago and will continue for a few more weeks.  The replacement building will be ready to occupy by 2012 Fall Term.

The Old Living Quarters is Coming Down (photo Dave Adcock)

Yesterday, 29 December 2011, John Reagan, Gary Minor and Scott Smelter met with the bankers and the attorneys and signed the papers. The loan is secured. The word is given. The old living space is coming down. Let Phase I of the major renovation begin!  We’ll be posting photographs of the construction from time to time.  In any case, expect something new and wonderful on the property at Homecoming 2012.

And a Happy New Year to all!

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The BOT has received a permit to take down the old apartment house/dormitory. The structure will not be so much “demolished” as “dis-assembled” in an orderly manner.  The undergrads have already “bugged out” and dis-assembly will begin soon.

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Cody Parham, Beta-Pi #1241

Frater Cody Parham (BSCE 2007), Beta-Pi #1241, recently passed the Principles of Practice and Engineering exam and has earned the Professional Engineer license in the state of Florida.

He is in his fourth year with Kimley-Horn and Associates doing aviation-civil design and construction management.

While he was an undergrad, Cody co-oped with Willmer Engineering where he did testing on materials and laboratory soils as well as spent time on construction projects as a technician performing batch-mixed concrete tests, standard penetration tests, fill material compaction tests, and rebar inspections.

Cody also interned with the Georgia Department of Transportation in the Traffic Control Section of District 4 where he performed traffic speed studies, analyzed existing intersection signage conditions and made recommendations for future signage needs.

Besides his involvement with TKE as an undergraduate, Cody was a Greek Alcohol Peer Educator and a member of the ASCE.

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Eric Hunter at Larrison Rock, Oregon (Photo by Eric Hunter)

When most people think of business, they think “for profit”. But that term means only that the business takes its profits in money. Non-profit or not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) face the same general organizational challenges as their for-profit cousins only they take their profits differently–as diseases cured, adults taught to read, or children immunized, for example.  As for profit businesses are accountable to stockholders who could invest in other companies, NPOs are accountable to grantors who have other organizations clamoring for their money.

Since 2005, Frater Eric Hunter has been working in Portland, Oregon for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), America’s largest environmental non-profit, to ensure that they are making good use of the resources entrusted to them. As a grants specialist, Eric works with spreadsheets to track the organization’s expenses on publicly funded conservation and restoration projects while mastering the arcane, cryptic and confusing rules and regulations that go along with the funds.

• removal of invasive algae and restoration of a bay on Oahu
• working with native Hawaiians to preserve their way of life as it relates to the sea and land
• restoring the Hawaiian Islands’ watersheds and protecting them from invasive species
• the return of native salmon to an estuary in Alaska
• the restoration and return to proper mangement of a large scale forest in southern Oregon

Eric is also managing the single largest ARRA-funded grant awarded to TNC in the amount of $6.6 million for its work with the City of Ashland and Lomakatsi Restoration Project.

Eric remarks, “While it might not sound like the most exciting job out there, when I get out in the field and see the projects that I support, it makes it all worthwhile. Especially when I have to visit Hawaii in the middle of the Oregon winter.”

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