Southeast Michigan Student Success Center (SEMSSC)

To the HFC community from President Kavalhuna

I am excited to give you this update on the Southeast Michigan Student Success Center (SEMSSC) project on our main campus. This webpage will provide public information and will include updates as the project is planned, developed, and completed.

The project, and your role

This will be the biggest infrastructural project in College history, with an expected cost of $80 to $90 million. Its main goal is to support student success in alignment with our strategic plan. The project will entail a new building on Evergreen Road (what will be called the SEMSSC), renovations of A and B buildings, and the demolition of N and K buildings. Other than those broad aspects of the project, nothing has been decided. We are just beginning the planning phases of the project. I am very excited about this transformational project, and I know that we need your help and input to make it a success.

The first public opportunity for you to provide input will be Wednesday, November 20, at a Town Hall meeting in the Forfa Auditorium from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. We will discuss vision, guiding principles, and goals. I will send a separate invitation message with an agenda. The Town Hall will not be your only opportunity to give input. We will create other in-person and online opportunities for you to provide feedback.

Where does the project stand?

After the Board of Trustees officially approved the SEMSSC project’s budget in August, we triggered two distinct public bidding processes to select professional firms to help us design (architect) and build (construction) this project. We intentionally selected a cross-section of our teammates to help select these firms.

I am excited to report that the scale of our SEMSSC project drew impressive bids from beyond our state and region (something that has not occurred with our smaller projects). This selection process included countless hours of evaluating proposals and interviewing applicants. I am grateful for the following teammates who took on this important selection work:

Selection of Architectural/Engineering Firm

• John Satkowski (VP of Finance)
• Jayne Sakelaris (Special assistant to the VP of Finance)
• Dan Murray (Purchasing Director)
• Reuben Brukley (Facilities Director)
• Holly Diamond (VP of Student Affairs)
• Brad Romans (Dean of SOLA)
• Michael Nealon (VP of Academic Affairs)
• Denise Piche (Academic Affairs)
• Lori Gonko (VP Strategy and HR)
• Anthony Perry (Faculty Member from Senate)
• Eric Rader (Representing Local 1650)

Selection of Construction Management Firm

• John Satkowski (VP of Finance)
• Jayne Sakelaris
• Dan Murray (Purchasing Director)
• Reuben Brukley (Facilities Director)
• Brad Romans (Dean of SOLA)
• Denise Piche (Academic Affairs)
• Eric Rader (Representing Local 1650)

These groups developed a scoring rubric that assessed each proposal, which led to consensus recommendations for the Board of Trustees, who accepted these recommendations that we partner with an architectural firm called Stantec and a Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR) firm called Granger Construction.

Stantec is familiar with the College, and we have built a good relationship with them. They will manage the design and structural planning for the project. Granger will manage the construction planning.

Granger will make sure all costs are accounted for up-front, so we can minimize any surprises or cost overruns.

Please contact me if you have any questions about the process that led to these selections, and please thank your teammates who worked hard on this transparent, collaborative process. I am particularly thankful for Purchasing Director Dan Murray, Facilities Director Reuben Brukley, and Trustee Mary Petlichkoff, who each gave particularly outstanding effort to bring us to this point.

What happens next?

Our SEMSSC website has a preliminary timeline. We are starting the process of developing the details of the project. This work will continue our specific intent to seek your input, and it will continue through February 2025.

Beginning next week, Stantec will hold initial meetings with many of the project’s HFC teams. These teams were developed to include diverse voices from our College. These teams will meet with Stantec in early November for the following discussions:
1. Workshop on needs for community/commons spaces
2. Workshop on needs for Welcome Center / Enrollment Services
3. Workshop on needs for learning environments
4. Workshop on needs for academic departments and faculty
5. Workshop on needs for academic success
6. Workshop on needs for operations / infrastructure / site utilities
7. Workshop on needs for student collaboration / group spaces
8. Workshop on needs for other spaces
9. Workshop on needs for campus integration and site design (interior and exterior)
10. Workshop on needs for instructional technology
11. Workshop on needs for data center
12. Workshop on needs for IEMP
13. Workshop on needs for chiller plant

How can you stay informed and involved?

I will provide periodic updates on the SEMSSC project, and we will keep the website up-to-date. You are also welcome to speak to any member of any of the project teams (see list on this webpage).

I invite you to attend the first Town Hall, and take advantage of future opportunities to connect and communicate. As always, I encourage you to directly tell me about your views on this exciting project, or any other item.

As I hope you can see, I am excited about this work! It has been something many of us have been pursuing for more than four years. I look forward to working with all of you as we continue to transform lives and build better futures.

Russ

In August 2024, the HFC Board of Trustees approved a Resolution Authorizing 2025 Community College Building and Site Bonds. According to the resolution, "proceeds of the Bonds shall be used for capital improvement projects within the College, including, but not limited to, the construction, equipping and furnishing of a new Southeast Michigan Student Success Center building, the renovation, equipping and furnishing of existing facilities, and site work, including the demolition of two existing buildings."

Why this project?

The purpose of this new project is to create a up-to-date facility on the main HFC campus that will support teaching, learning, and services to advance student success. This project, tied directly to our strategic plan focused on student success, will be the largest-ever construction project on our campuses. The centerpiece will be a new multi-story building as a “front door” on our main campus facing Evergreen Road.

The project will include a new Welcome Center area, classrooms, student service offices, student soft spaces, gathering spaces, and other amenities.

The project will be designed with a variety of flexible, multi-use spaces that can foster and support innovations as educational practices, student needs, community activities, and expectations continue to evolve in the coming decades.

In addition to the new building facing Evergreen road, there will be substantial renovations to the main campus A and B buildings (and smaller renovations to the D building). The project is expected to include the demolition of the N and K buildings, and the creation of a new, centrally located “campus quad” space that can be used for large outdoor events such as Commencement.

When will this happen, and who is supporting this project?

This is a large, complex project. Timelines and phases are mostly TBD. We will share more on this webpage as the project moves forward.

Over time, hundreds of individuals at the College will be involved in creating this project and bringing it to fruition. All community members are invited to participate and share their feedback.

The project architect is Stantec, and the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) is Granger Construction.

This is preliminary, with lots of TBD elements

This will give you an idea of what to expect in the early stages of the project: