“The intent of the university is to be a great school, not a large one,” stated Kris Olsen, associate vice president of facilities management and campus planning.

Keeping that in mind, major growth over the next decade can be seen in the following areas of the campus:

Long Term Construction Plans

The timetable is still unknown, but sometime in the next ten years the Villa Park Orchards Packing Plant, located on the corner of Palm Avenue and Cypress Street, will be converted into a large facility that will include a retail center, larger bookstore, food court, pub, and apartment style housing for graduate and upper-division students.

President Doti is also highly interested in a new performing arts center, to cater to the new College of Performing Arts. In addition, a new science center may be constructed where DeMille Hall currently sits. Kertes would like to see Chapman’s science program become one of the best in the nation.

“We’re looking for the kind of facility that would do for science what the Knott Studios are doing for film,” said Kertes.

There are no current plans to improve the science facilities inside Hashinger. The physical therapy department is moving out of Hashinger and into the renovated Cordage building across from the Palm Avenue Parking Lot this fall. Hashinger will most likely get a makeover that will include a few more classrooms and mostly more offices. Kertes is skeptical about how long Hashinger and even Moulton Center will be around.

Residence Life

There is some tangible growth that students will be able to see in the next few years. Braden Hall is being torn down this summer, and a new residence center is expected to take its place by the fall of 2009. This building will have 300 beds and will feature an underground parking lot, conference center, internal courtyard, dining complex, and maybe even a climbing wall. This dining complex will be used for all residential dining so that the cafeteria in Argyros can be converted into a student union, to be used for activities such as studying and student events.

“This university is lacking a real student union where students have first priority over space,” explained Kertes.

Also in the next year, the children’s center will be torn down and replaced with some much needed recreational space, including volleyball courts, basketball courts, and picnic tables.

Kertes believes that more new residence halls will follow in the next ten years, for two reasons. One is that the university would prefer not to place freshmen in tripled dorm rooms. The second is that the university would like to see more and more students living on campus. 46% of the student body currently lives on campus, and Chapman would like to see that number go up to 50%. This goal is tied with the university’s desire to have an increasingly international and diverse student body. When Kertes first came to Chapman in 1992, 75% of students were from Orange County. Now, only 28% are from Orange County. As the university attracts more and more students from outside of the area, there will be more of a demand for on-campus housing.