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Construction, bad traffic and road blocks. I’m Kayla Hodge, and right behind me is Harbourt Hall, also known the Department of Facilities Planning and Operations. My beat this semester is Buildings, Grounds and Sustainability.

I sat down with Associate Vice President of Facilities, Planing and Operations Thomas Euclide, to talk about the $200 Million dollar construction happening all over campus. Not only is Mr. Euclide in charge of the facilities on Kent’s main campus, but he is also in charge of the facilities on all eight of Kent’s campus’s

This construction, Euclide says is an initiative by the schools board of trustees and the department of Facilities, Planning and Operations to not only give campus a face lift, but to also give it a new attitude. The budget set out for this renovations was hardly enough says Euclide, but they made it work.

Some of the many challenges facing this department range from stretching the budget to thin, and some standard issues found when renovating different building on campus. Such as piping, structural issues and some bad soil laid down underneath the parking lot of some of the structures.

In the future there are many good stories that could arrive from this beat. Such as a peak inside the new architecture building, which is one of the crowing accomplishments here apart of the renovations here at Kent State, and a first look at the newly combined art annex and van-doosen hall here on campus.

Some other great contacts for this beat are , Roy Christian the Director of University Facilities Management. Heather White who is the manager of the grounds crew here on Kent’s campus.

For Broadcast Beat Reporting, I’m Kayla Hodge.