A 10-year vision in order for a better learning environment, living facilities, and involvement with the community has been the focus of Emporia State’s Campus Master Plan.

On Jan. 13, ESU hosted an open forum where Gould Evans, the campus master planning consultant company, had a representative present the plans of Phase Two for their vision.

The strategy of Phase Two is to specify the outcome of where they want to go with this project and finalize their plans. They have been working on this part for the past three months. In the spring, Gould Evans will move on to the third phase, which is how they will get the project started and completed.

Dennis Strait, Gould Evans consultant, has narrowed down to two new alternative entrances to campus, the North Entrance and Central Entrance.

“This new north entrance is positioned just north (of) where the one room school house is, but south of where the existing drive is,” Strait said. “It would give ourselves a much more gracious front lawn and entry to the community, and also view from the highway.”

Strait explained that another addition to the north entrance would be to eventually add a new visitor’s center and to also move the Teachers Hall of Fame to this site, making it more public and celebrated as you enter the university. The Central Entrance would be at the north end of Cremer Hall and the south end of the football stadium.

“This entrance would be created to bring people to the heart of campus – at Wooster Lake, the football stadium and Memorial Union,” Strait said.

Removing all of Morse and Butcher Hall would be a part of the Central Entrance plan, Strait said, which would mean creating “a completely new Butcher Hall and leaving a large empty landscaped area that could eventually be used to add another academic building.”

Both entrances will include changes in modernizing classrooms, moving the Art Annex and expanding the student recreation center and HYPER building.

According to the campus master plan map, these building additions have the advantage of architecture changes, which would positively and significantly change the appearance of the campus along Interstate 35.

Strait said another idea is to transform the Stormont Maintenance Center into a new residence hall and health center in order to replace Morse or accommodate more students.

“We really don’t want students to be isolated, so looking at square footage and buildings, (so what) we already have is being strongly looked at and we know there are still more final decisions to make for this plan,” said Bobbi Pearson, director of facility planning.