Architect outlines library renovation
FAYETTEVILLE — An approximately $16.5 million renovation to the main campus library will focus on the building’s top two floors as the majority of books are moved to an off-campus storage facility, a project architect said.
“In the renovation of level three and level four, we’re providing more seats in the library than currently exist,” said Todd Shafer, associate principal with Perry Dean Rogers architecture of Boston. He said the space will allow for more study areas and greater collaboration between faculty members and students.
Shafer spoke to faculty and staff members about early design concepts for renovating the Mullins Library. Up to three-quarters of books and other printed materials now housed in the library will begin to be moved as soon as this summer, library officials have said.
Design concepts include a reading room for graduate students and a separate reading room for faculty members. Remaining books in the library would be used as a “buffer” between student group study areas and open study areas, Shafer said.
Renovation work also involves removing asbestos. Carolyn Henderson Allen, dean of libraries, said another $20 million is needed for a full renovation.
Top bidder named for gear-sales pact
FAYETTEVILLE — An intent-to-award letter this month from the university has named Dyehard Fan Supply as the choice to manage licensed mer-chandise sales at athletic events and online.
Contract negotiations are the next step, university spokesman Kevin Trainor said in an email.
The company was created last year by private-equity firm Teall Capital, according to a December statement. Teall Capital describes itself as based n three cities: Winston-Salem, N.C.; Atlanta; and San Francisco.
Dyehard Fan Supply was chosen over bids from Fanatics, which Trainor said currently manages the retail sales, and GameDay Holdings.
In its request for bids, the university listed $1.21 million in 2016-17 sales for retail shops at athletic venues. The university also listed net online sales of $899,939 for the same year, with the online sales made via a link from the main athletics Web page.
Goals in seeking bids included “substantial merchandise revenue growth for the University,” the bid request document stated.
$300,000 received for heart research
FAYETTEVILLE — A pair of biomedical engineering researchers studying the human heart have received grants totaling more than $300,000 from the American Heart Association.
Morten Jensen will use the association’s $154,000 Institutional Research Enhancement Award to study ways to create a new type of stent for use in coronary blood vessels. Collaborators Barry Uretsky at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Lucas Timmins at the University of Utah are working with Jensen to study stents that could be used in the spots where vessels branch.
Kartik Balachandran is using a $154,000 grant from the association to study the progression of a certain type of disease known as calcific aortic valve disease.
The American Heart Association program aims to fund “small-scale research projects related to cardiovascular dis-eases and stroke,” according to its website, with the grants directed toward projects at schools that have not been major recipients of National Institutes of Health support.
Rice-watering study nets $500,199 grant
FAYETTEVILLE — A $500,199 National Science Foundation grant will help a university researcher study irrigation strategies for rice production.
Benjamin Runkle, an assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering, has received the Faculty Early Career Development award.
His work involves studying ways to save water with-out reducing rice production. Arkansas is the top producer of rice among all states, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.