Admissions in Smith Hall
This fall, UNH Admissions will move to Smith Hall, and Fairchild Hall will become the new home for international students. The moves are part of the preparations for the building of a new business college. Smith Hall was UNH's first residence hall for women and became the international and multicultural dorm in 1983. In addition to providing a central location for Admissions, the Smith Hall location "allows the university to bring together and even expand many of the student support services that are currently scattered around campus," a UNH statement said.
Kudos for Pipeline
UNH's EcoLine pipeline has been named an EPA Project of the Year. The pipeline is a landfill gas-to-energy project that uses purified methane gas from Waste Management's Turnkey landfill in Rochester, N.H., to provide up to 85 percent of campus power. When the pipeline began operations in May 2009, UNH became the first university in the nation to use landfill gas as its primary fuel source.
New England Center to Close
Citing the $2 million UNH spends annually to subsidize the New England Center and the 50 percent drop in its revenue in the last two years, UNH officials announced that the center would close on June 30. "Coming to the decision ... was extremely difficult as the facility has great historical significance to the university, the town of Durham and the state," said President Mark Huddleston. The hotel's B Tower, which was built in 1988, will house about 170 students in the fall. Options for the use of A Tower and the conference center, which were designed by William Pereira and built in 1968, are still being studied.
Mike Ross
First J-term Held
More than 400 students signed up for the first January term, or J-term, UNH's new three-week intensive mini-semester. Twenty-seven undergraduate and eight graduate courses were offered. The courses were conducted at the Durham and Manchester campuses either online through distance-learning, in classrooms, or in a hybrid of online and classroom sessions. Enrollment was open to full-time, part-time and continuing education students.
Anthrax at Waysmeet Center
The Waysmeet Center on Mill Road in Durham was temporarily closed after a woman attending a drum circle event on Dec. 4 developed a case of gastrointestinal anthrax. More than 80 samples were taken inside the building by an EPA crew, and minute levels of anthrax were found on two drums and four other areas of the first floor. The victim, who is not a UNH student, was hospitalized in critical condition but by early January had improved and was no longer in intensive care. Vaccines and antibiotics were offered to the 60 people who attended the event as well as staff and residents; more than half accepted. Contractors will have to spend several weeks cleaning five rooms in the building before the United Campus Ministry, Cornucopia, a food pantry, and eight residents can return.