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Looking at a satellite view on Google Maps, there appears to be a structure there already. Is it a house? Or was it a construction trailer for Beacon Hall?

I think when the former Porter Hospital property fills out, the parking garage will be a lot more convenient. In the meantime, I'm sure the students living in Guild/Memorial will be grateful for the (hopefully) decreased burden on that parking lot across from the ARC.

It looks great! I'm so glad that the administration decided to take the leap on this much-needed project. 

College Choice could have chosen a much better picture of our school.... but still a great ranking! 

Thanks 'pal! They really put that steel up in a hurry. Hopefully they can get it sealed before winter!

Valpo ranks number 5 this year in US News & World Report. Tied for 1st for Up-and-Coming.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities-midwest

What do you suppose the mean by  a "walkway?"  Is that something more than a sidewalk?

Probably just a wide sidewalk. According to the NWI Times: "The university wants to put solar panels on the garage roof to provide power for the garage's needs as well as to light a new 8-foot pathway from the garage to the Athletics-Recreation Center to make it easier for people to get to games there. All but the solar panels should be completed by the end of October, he said."

They are converting the clinic to the new Nursing building? I don't know much about that building, but a quick look on Google Maps makes that building look smaller than Lebien Hall.    Other than that, I'm excited at the prospect of Lacrosse and hope the University takes the possibility seriously.

Of note, the incoming freshman had an average high school GPA of 3.6, and they averaged 1660 on the SAT and 26 on the ACT — both well above national averages. This seems to be relatively steady from previous years, which is good.

Fair enough.  All I was saying is do not necessarily compare the quality of a school just on demographics (and actually test score admissions).

What I experienced at Valpo is this  -- admission standards are not selective, as can be shown by the admission rate.  However, once you get there, you need to bust your tail off.  Valpo does have a good reputation.  What you find out in the working world is that they are several other schools that have a good reputation.

Admission standards cannot be quantified by admission rate exclusively. Having worked in admissions, I can attest that low quality students tend not to apply to Valpo at all. For example, Chicago State University (by most accounts a pretty terrible school) has a much lower admission rate than Valpo. However, the average student that gets accepted there has much lower academic credentials than a student that gets accepted to Valpo. Just some food for thought.

Awesome to hear....thanks for adding that up! 

Here is a tour of Beacon Hall.  Very nice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO-5Ak7DaXs#t=11

It's very impressive. I can't wait until more dorms like this are constructed on campus.

The consolidated dining concept was really a great idea. I spent 3 years with separated cafeterias and the last year with the Union, and it really did build a sense of community because you knew your friends would be going to the same place. I just hope that with the increase in students that it doesn't become too overcrowded.

Updated photo from the Valpo Athletics Facebook page:

Yes, I remember often needing to get a new calling card, or re-up my calling minutes. I'm surprised there will be no phones in the new dorm for the sake of local calls, or room-to-room, although I'm sure with all the texting that gets done these days, who needs a phone in the room?

There are no phones in the rooms, but there are emergency phones "throughout the hallways."

Beacon Hall is now open to students, and the NWI Times had a great article about it along with some great pictures. http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/valparaiso/vu-opens-new-residence-hall/article_a725f799-ffb2-516b-8fcc-3292ff43245a.html Below is an image from the article, credit Jon L Hendricks:

I'm also on a Mac and can't see the image. Like 62 said, there doesn't even appear to be a broken link or anything there. If any sort of common image hosting service was used, it should show up no problem. Paul, how is the image hosted?

I also don't see any images. 

Overall I like the design better, but the drop-down menus on top could use some alterations. When you hover over the link with your pointer, the options below are very spread out for some reason. Also, the featured story below the main graphics is quite large, leading you to think there's not much else down at the bottom. I do like the clean graphics and design though. 

Paul, please post some shots of the new residence hall and of the Chapel addition if you get the chance. 

Yeah, I have been tracking those, but of late nuthin much.  ValpoPal noted that the asphalt went down last week.  Would have liked to see the results.

They posted the video of the asphalt on July 25th. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HsLTlUhCyw&feature=youtu.be

Brown and gold would be a good idea, but I stopped by the football field this morning and watched as they began laying the blacktop on the track, and it is black.

I for one would like to see more frequent updates on the track construction from the administration.  This is big and the progress could be exciting.

The Valpo Athletics Facebook page features almost weekly updates, and I think the main Valpo Facebook page has shown periodic updates as well. The updates weren't as frequent as first, but that's probably because there wasn't much to show at the time (just digging a little bit).

Sounds like she'll be real regimented, and probably learned some different ways to recruit from EIU, the Army, and Hofstra. The only question/concern I have is will Coach Stake being staying in Valpo for longer than a few years?

We'll never know the answer to that until it happens, but she did say that the midwest is her home....so we have that going for us. 

Finally some visible progress of the construction. From the Chapel of the Resurrection Facebook page:

I think I've brought this up before, but I think it bears repeating -- what about a rowing team? We're close to Lake Michigan and have plentiful lakes in the area. A rowing team would have relatively low startup costs and allow us to compete against elite schools out east that we don't compete against in other sports. Notre Dame and IU have rowing teams but I'm not sure where they compete. Thoughts?