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YSU construction projects going as planned
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University construction projects are going as planned, said John Hyden, university facilities executive director.
Hyden praised the recently finished and “beautiful facility,” $5 million Barnes & Noble bookstore on the corner of Lincoln and Fifth avenues during the Wednesday afternoon Finance and Facilities Committee meeting.
Renovations in Meshel Hall’s first and third floors and Ward Beecher’s interior were completed on time in mid-August, Hyden said.
Additional renovations in both buildings will begin in 2018.
Roof work on Jones Hall is underway and “well within the [$934,000] budget.”
“It’s not even scheduled to be done until this November, and we are on track for that being completed,” Hyden said.
In addition, about $285,000 worth of campus core improvements have been made including re-bricking walkway areas around fountains and repaving walkways and driveways around campus.
Although construction on Wick Avenue is not a campus project, Hyden said he is following its progress and working closely with Youngstown on it.
“It was disappointing it wasn’t done by the start of school, but [the city] told us their contract is completed in October, and it has to be done by then,” he said.
In other business, trustees approved the selection of James Yukech for the position of associate vice president for technology and chief information officer.
Before this appointment, Yukech served as interim associate vice president for technology and chief information officer since Kenneth Schindler resigned in September 2016.
“We did do a search, and Jim [Yukech] did rise to the top with his extensive IT [information technology] experience – more than 25 years of it,” said Neal McNally, YSU vice president for finance and business operations.
Yukech will make between $145,000 and $175,000 annually.