Northeastern University College of Science

Dear College of Science Faculty and Staff,

It’s been around twenty years since we did home renovations. The basement bathroom is disintegrating, the original 1938 kitchen cabinets drip sawdust, floor tiles treacherously protrude, the roof leaks and yesterday, the front steps collapsed. So, we have embarked on a home improvement strategic plan, with exciting findings. For example, demolition of the basement bathroom revealed that one wall was only a sheet of now-rotten wood, that when removed revealed a creepy underground passage extending deep into the earth. Of course, fixing this required unanticipated investment in a sturdy cinder block wall and some loads of earth. Renovations come with their close partner - Clean Up. Emptying every room as instructed by the contractor means confronting the contents, building a Venn Diagram between the sentimental, the useful and the not-presently-used, to define what should go. There are many happy hours in home renovations.

In our College, there are also many (sometimes) happy hours of clean up as we renovate our research, teaching and administration spaces. As we wait for approval of Mugar HVAC so building new faculty labs can resume. As we navigate the labyrinth of Nightingale to spruce up offices, and as we optimistically contemplate the Holmes basement. And as our CCB members clean out decades of Hurtig history in advance of occupying the best-in-the-world labs of EXP. Space planning and renovation in the College of Science and at Northeastern University is exciting and challenging. Deep thanks to Director of Operations and Space Planning Sarah Stanton and Associate Dean Sam Inman for their excellent leadership in these areas.

At this moment of late Spring, may I invite you to consider your own clean up. Perhaps in the literal discard-or-recyle sense. Perhaps by clarifying work you are proud of, and thinking where you can contribute to realizing our Strategic Plan. Implementing our Plan will be a complex and interesting project that we will tackle together, through Clean Up, Renovation and Building. Thank you for your wonderful contributions, as we move through Spring semester.