The
Berea College Board of Trustees has elected two new board members
and approved two renovation projects for campus buildings
.
The new trustees are the Rev. Canon Lucinda Rawlings Laird, rector
of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Louisville, and Vance Blade,
assistant distribution manager for The Kroger Company's Louisville
Division. Both will assume six-year terms beginning with the Board's
May meeting.
Approval also was given for a $2.6-million renovation for Kettering
Women's Residence Hall and a $2.1-million project for the Center
on Excellence in Learning Through Service (CELTS) in the Trades
and Bruce buildings. Work on Kettering will begin at the conclusion
of the Spring Term while renovation activities will begin immediately
for the Trades-Bruce project.
The election and renovation approvals resulted at the Board's
Feb.
26 meeting.
Before coming to Louisville, Rev. Canon Laird served as rector
of St. Mark's Church in Teaneck, N.J. She held several positions
in the Diocese of Newark and is a member of the national church's
Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations. She holds a B.A. from
Barnard College and a Master of Divinity degree from the General
Theological Seminary. She has been an ordained priest in the Episcopal
Church since 1982.
Blade, a native of Eminence, Ky., will serve as an alumni trustee.
He is a 1982 graduate of Berea with a degree in business administration.
He has been employed with the Kroger Company since 1983, where
he also has held positions as co-manager of retail food operations,
minority affairs coordinator and human resources manager. He served
on the College's Alumni Council from 1988-1993 and received the
Oustanding Young Alumnus Award in 1983. Active in community service,
Blade has served on the Commonwealth of Kentucky Martin Luther
King Jr. Commission, the board of directors of the Bridgehaven
Mental Health Organization, and other organizations.
Kettering, the third structure to be renovated as part of a six-year
residence hall rejuvenation program, will have all infrastructure
systems upgraded and a new data communications capabilities added.
An eight-10 member student crew will work with project contractors
for the length of the project. A student crew also was used with
the recent Danforth Hall renovation.
The Trades-Bruce project will create space for Berea's new CELTS
project. It involves mechanical and electrical upgrades for the
Trades Building and a renovation of the structure's second floor
where the Students for Appalachia (SFA) offices are currently located.
In addition, a connector between Trades and Bruce will be constructed
and a new elevator for the buildings will be installed.
The connector will facilitate collaboration between the College's
Center for Excellence in Learning Through Service (CELTS) and Berea's
Appalachian Center.
Both renovation projects are scheduled for completion Sept. 1.
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