Provost says development at RU ‘extraordinarily exciting’

James Gandre is entering his third year as the provost of Roosevelt University.

He picked a heck of a time to take a major leadership role at the university, as the school is in the middle of growing up – literally – with its "vertical campus" project and re-establishing its intercollegiate athletics program.

Such developments leave the now veteran leader busy, but he's awfully excited about the changes.

"I can't imagine having a more fun time than dealing with all these issues," Gandre said.

"It's an extraordinarily exciting point in this institution's history."

Gandre sees the construction of the 32-story "vertical campus" building as a hallmark campus facility that will add to the Chicago skyline."

Students will occupy the highest 17 floors of the building, and Gandre thinks such living quarters might attract high school students.

"You're going to be living in the Chicago sky, which is a pretty cool thing," he said.

The building, scheduled to be completed in 2012, will also include classrooms for certain majors, faculty offices and computer labs and connect to the Auditorium Building, via an underground tunnel.

"If you're a business college, arts and science, or performing arts major, you literally could perhaps never have to leave the accommodations of the two buildings that will be connected," Gandre said.

He doubts anyone would do that, of course, but when those Chicago winter days arrive, such an option will be convenient, he says.

"And in the winter, you don't have to put on a coat to go to class; you just go down the elevator," Gandre said.

Because it's in the heart of the Loop, the university doesn't have blocks and blocks of space to work with. The only way to go is up, and Gandre thinks the ambitious project speaks volumes about the school's goals.

"It's so small that it has to go high," he said. "It's an extremely beautiful building, and because of that I think it's a real statement about Roosevelt."

While plans to build a fieldhouse for RU athletics aren't nearly as far along as the "vertical campus" project, Gandre, who served as the dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at RU from 2000-2007, thinks the building will offer more than just a home arena for returning sports teams, also creating "a holistic, extracurricular life" for students who are not directly involved in sports.

"Between going to plays, basketball games, concerts, parties that the university has, movies and lectures, you sort of have a traditional campus in this very urban setting, which I think is a very cool combination," Gandre said.