University Times

Lynch Hall - BEFORE

With keen eyes for esthetics and willing hands for hard work, Pitt-Greensburg’s campus beautification circle is making UPG a more inviting place.

The group oversees twice-yearly campus cleanup days so the campus looks its best before graduation ceremonies and again before the fall term campus move-in days.

Lynch Hall - AFTER

But they do much more than merely roll up their sleeves to spruce up and shovel. By creating inviting places for faculty, staff and students to gather — indoors and out — they are strengthening connections within the campus community.

Thanks to their efforts, wedding parties have a more verdant backdrop for photos, commuters have a more comfortable lounge in which to relax and resident students have inviting outdoor living spaces that foster interaction and a greater sense of community.

Westmoreland Hall - BEFORE

Neat new flower and perennial beds across campus welcome guests, making for a better overall first impression.

The group is among several “community circles” established by campus President Sharon P. Smith to bring the UPG community together to provide input and direction on various campus issues. Others, for instance, focus on recycling, social media and the campus mascot.

Westmoreland Hall - AFTER

Formed in 2009 with a half-dozen members, the campus beautification circle has grown to include 27 faculty, staff and students. Although the campus community had undertaken beautification projects before there was a circle, the formation of the group gave new structure to the efforts.

Early on, they came up with a list of 52 projects, prioritized with input from people across the campus. They provide an ongoing “to-do” list.

“It was time to make improvements,” said circle chair Joyce Bucchi, UPG director of human resources, who keeps a bucket filled with gardening tools near her office door and a running mental “hit list” of plants that aren’t measuring up.

UPG beautification circle chair Joyce Bucchi points out some of the group’s handiwork.

Some get a new lease on life: several viburnum shrubs suffering from too much sun were given a more suitable new home near Chambers Hall; usable remnants of a formal garden near Slate Run that in recent years has been damaged by flooding are being replanted elsewhere.

“We don’t try to get rid of anything good,” she said, but pity the poor plants she’s deemed too damaged or decrepit to remain. They’re as good as gone.

In researching factors that help attract and retain students, Bucchi said, the committee discovered that a beautiful campus is a motivation in admissions. “That has become a motivator and a goal,” she said.

Improvements inside and around Smith Hall, which houses classrooms, labs and offices, were deemed important for the impression on prospective students. New lounge furniture that replaced items more than a decade old “made a huge improvement in the functionality of the room,” Bucchi said, adding that the more comfortable space has given commuter students  — who make up 60 percent of the campus population — a “home” that enables them to be more involved and connected to the campus. “It gives them spaces to eat lunch and to study, not just sit in the car,” she said.

Residents of UPG’s University Court apartments also have a more inviting place to gather. In coordination with maintenance staff, circle volunteers planned a facelift for the housing complex. Redleaf maple trees and decorative boulders were placed near the driveway entrance. River rocks and low-maintenance perennial beds took the place of less attractive yews that blocked airflow and created security issues in front of the buildings. Tables were installed to provide a space for residents to interact outside.  “It’s giving them a sense of community,” Bucchi said.

Benches are big in the circle’s plans. Seating is being added outside the residence halls in the Academic Village area and teak benches are being placed outside Campana Chapel, where landscaping in colors that coordinate with its stained glass windows provides a pleasant backdrop for wedding party photos. Even the trash receptacle outside the chapel has been upgraded, with an all-too-prominent green can that was the bane of event photographers replaced with a more unobtrusive teak container.

Among the projects circle members are most excited about is the recent completion of a new courtyard outside the Hall residence hall. The entrance had been flanked by two simple benches, situated on either side of a broad sidewalk and too far apart to be conducive to conversation.

Today, a new paved courtyard features four sets of patio tables and chairs surrounded by a low wall that doubles as additional seating. Trees, small shrubs and perennial beds add color and complete the cozy enclave.

“We’ve always had comments on the beauty of the campus,” Bucchi said. But some plantings — including some gardens and landscaping that predated Pitt’s 1964 purchase of the Charles Lynch family estate that sits at the heart of the campus — were overgrown, and recent harsh winters took their toll when salt and snow damaged shrubs and trees. The time was ripe for a fresh look.

Snow-damaged yews near the Finoli Drive campus entrance were replaced. The entrance island and wall now offer a fresh and more welcoming first impression with a mix of roses, salvia, ornamental grass, creeping jenny and scotch broom.

Some projects were as simple as removing rusty goalposts from the athletic fields. Others were more extensive, such as the improvements to Lynch Hall, home to the campus president’s office and other administrative offices. Formerly the Lynch residence, the 1920s-Tudor house has been outfitted with new furnishings and fixtures to make its lobby more usable and inviting. Outside, overgrown rhododendrons were replaced with dogwood trees and flowering plants. New window boxes outside add charm and look as though they’ve always been there.

Plans for Lynch Hall also call for a teak bench and new landscaping near an overgrown slope at the rear of the building, where stairs lead down toward Slate Run.

The beautification circle works collaboratively with UPG’s groundskeeping staff, helping to extend their reach on the nearly 220-acre campus. For instance, a steep slope near the Academic Village residence area has been planted with coreopsis, ornamental grass and trees, reducing the need for mowing.

The circle, which draws on the expertise of a member who is a landscape designer, keeps both maintenance and esthetics in mind when proposing new plantings, opting for plants that go beyond being merely colorful, attractive and coordinated.

“Just like the buildings, we want them to look like they go together,” Bucchi said. Blue salvia, creeping jenny, long-blooming yellow coreopsis and golden mop cypress contribute to a subtle blue-and-gold color scheme that’s supplemented by a variety of other perennials including oak leaf hydrangea, Alberta spruce, azalea, sage, yucca and ornamental grass.

Beyond that, “We want it to look clean,” Bucchi said, noting that the group considers deer- and drought-resistance and the potential need to clean up after falling leaves when choosing plants.

“It is a concern for us when we work with plant material,” Bucchi said. “We want it to be low maintenance. It’s hard to get water everywhere so we rely a lot on Mother Nature.”

Even Mother Nature gets a hand from committee members bearing gallon jugs of water when necessary. New plantings get a little extra TLC from committee members who commit to keeping a special eye on young plants near their own offices.

Funding for the projects is a mixed bag. The primary source for maintenance projects are auxiliary accounts and individual area budgets, although some funding comes from the campus budget committee, Bucchi said. Donations also help. For instance, the Friends of the Millstein Library group helped fund work done outside the library entrance.

The beautification circle also has its own account to which UPG internal campaign contributions can be designated.

The circle is open to anyone interested in participating. The group meets as needed to discuss campus projects and conducts periodic campus walk-arounds to identify areas in need of attention.

Bucchi sees no end in sight to their efforts to continue to improve the campus.

“We keep our list of ideas realistic, but we dream big.”

—Kimberly K. Barlow