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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL *■■'■ ' ME^Bhp, f WA^ffiSSmnt* • m&w&Mm*i%. iSp : J Submitted Fort Valley State University celebrates construction of a student housing complex and academic village. Participants include University officials as well as State Rep. Calvin Smyre who serves as Chairman of the FVSU Foundation; Fort Valley Mayor John Stumbo; Peter Hickey, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development and Administration, University System of Georgia; Peach County Commissioner James Khoury; Rep. Lynmore James; Senator George Hooks; Michael Russell, CEO, and Carole Washington, Development Manager, H.J. Russell and Company; Freddy Greer, President of Citizens Bank and Executive Secretary of the FVSU Foundation Property LLC; Kelwin Williams, Student Leader; Marty Nance, Executive Director for Real Estate Ventures, University System of Georgia; and Lawrence Marable, National Alumni Association President; and David Shonk, Vice President in Design and Construction Consulting Services, Staubach Southeast Regional Division. FVSU breaks ground for new student housing Special to the HDJ President Larry E. Rivers proudly announced the con struction of Fort Valley State University s new $44 mil lion housing complex and academic village located in the heart of school s histor ic 1,350-acre campus at a festive groundbreaking cer emony, Tuesday, July 11. Plans for the new student living complex emerged from a campus-wide master plan developed in 2002 and found solid support in both hous ing and market studies. The Board of -Regents of the University System of Georgia approved the proposal in 2005. President Rivers thanked the Fort Valley State University Foundation and Peach County Development Authority for their labor, vision and commitment to the project. The FVSU Foundation, Inc. estab lished the FVSU Foundation Property LLC to develop and complete the project. This groundbreaking offers tangible proof that a new day has dawned in the Valley, said Dr. Rivers. The University is back on track and headed for a Get The Scoop On Local News & Sports hhjnews.com Check It Out & Email Us Your Feedback! Total Cancer Care Now Available in Hawkinsville Board-certified physicians offering: Medical <3neology * Hematology * Radiation oncology • CT scaumng/kmging Generic counseling • Wellness and nutritional services GEORGIA CENTER FOR TOTAL CANCER CARE , Art The Den $. Msddock Conte* Treatment Center Located on the campus of Taylor Regional Hospital 760 341 Boulevard • Hawkinsville GA, 31036 • (478) 783-4022 future with bright promise . The scope of the housing project encompasses six brick buildings, including five student housing build ing and an amenities build ing. The new facilities antici pate 360,000 square feet of space and require nine acres of land. The site layout allows future expansion to accom modate an additional 200 students as the need arises. The facilities feature 370 two- and three-bedroom apartments, each with two baths; 560 Four-bedtodm suites and serin-suites with two baths; and residence management units. All buildings boast state of-the-art heating and cool ing systems. When the new housing facilities come on line in fall 2007, five existing residen tial structures will be retired from service to the extent required to ensure full occu pancy of the new housing complex. Current plans call for con struction of a replacement softball field and the instal lation of the first phase of a Campus Loop Road to M mmm mmm H fH allow better campus access. The design approach main tains the existing campus architecture to ensure con sistency and respect for university history and tradi tion. The new buildings also evoke a sense of student community while encourag ing interaction. Several professional com panies have associated them selves with FVSU in the project, including Siebert, Brandford Shanks, A. G. Edwards as bond under writers and Peck, Shaffer and Williams as counsel. The Staubach Company serves as program manager for the project. An Atlanta-based facilities consulting firm, Staubach specializes in higher edu cation owner representa tion and advisory services. H. J. Russell & Company is developing the project. The company provides comprehensive architectural and engineering services and has contracted Niles Bolton Associates as the project architect. Niles Bolton, a full-service architectural firm, has completed over I, projects since 1942. (Lite .Journal LOCAL 'Creating a more inspired, energizing organization' What should we change in order to make this a more interesting, exciting, scin tillating, and awesome place to work? I bet you can’t imagine the responses you’d receive to that question from peo ple in your organization. I bet some individu als would be stunned that you asked such a question. They might be reluctant to respond, wondering if they should tell you the truth. They may doubt your sin cerity or motive. Over the past couple of months, I’ve written sev eral columns encourag ing leaders to evaluate for themselves just how good their organizations are. As part of the services I provide for leaders, I some times conduct organization al health assessments in which I interview a cross sectional representation of employees. I ask individuals to share their perspective on a num ber of different aspects of their workplace. Once the leader provides assurance that they are free to tell me the truth as they see it, most individuals are not shy about sharing their ideas for how the organi zation could be improved. People open up when some one who seems friendly and competent comes in from the outside and asks these kinds of questions. Sometimes, however, leaders don’t want to spend the money. Sometimes leaders don’t really care what the condi tion of their organization is. Sometimes leaders focus so intently on getting the work done that there is lit tle interest in pausing to reflect on how the work might be done more effec- Welcome Ho Cm .. Ott M&t(f off the VwcfoM, and Hde Sank Ojj Penny m wiiA to extend a condud welcome to the IHeadene o^ The Christ’s Sanctified Holy Church bBShSI 9Sjsjfi 3e Vi^^ Attending the 68th Annual Camp Meeting Starting Sat., July 15th - Sun., July 23rd K) THE BANK OF PERRY M r 4781 987-2554 FDIC Dennis Hooper Leaders Building Leaders dhooper2@juno.com tively. Imagine the wonderfully creative ideas that would surface if you were to ask: “What are the unnecessary,' time-consuming, bureau cratic policies and proce dures that suck our ener gy?” So, here’s my chal lenge to you. Ask those two questions of three people a day for the next five days. Truly listen to each per son’s answers. Make notes. Be sure to capture what seems to the individual to be the unique and valuable insights. Let the person see that you are writing down his or her ideas. The person may ask what you are going to do with the notes you are making. Turn the question back to the individual and ask, “If you could dictate to me what I do with these notes, what would you have me do with them?” You’ll have collected some inspired information on the content of what could be improved in your organi zation. You’ll also receive some great suggestions for the process by which you can put those ideas to work. Summarize the collective information you acquired (and maybe throw in a few ideas of your own). You’ll find common themes around which you can organize the thoughts. 2500 Hwy. 41 N. Perry, Georgia THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2006 Jjt.. A Include the various sugges tions about implementing the ideas. Then gather those fifteen people together and share with them your summary. Ask each person to evaluate whether they are able to see their own ideas included in the summary. Guide the group in a planning process for what actions to take and in what priority. One of the first steps should probably be to let the rest of the organiza tion know how the informa tion was collected, why this intervention was started (you’ll have to supply that information), and what the plan is for improvement. The plan might include some action teams for fur ther study or to implement some of the suggestions. When you communicate the plan to the rest of the organization, let folks know how they can involve them selves in the improvement effort if they have the inter est and energy. (Note: The two content questions suggested in this article come from page 171 of The Radical Leap by Steve Farber.) People Pleasing! (We will delight yous) MSSfiJMISr 1-78 KxK 138 • 9874077 3M13 5A 00035870