Results of staff salary survey
Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
Opening soon: The Younts Center
Some on-campus construction projects have a penchant for running behind schedule. But with the Younts Conference Center, Mike Arnold picked up the keys earlier this month — seven months ahead of schedule.
Good weather and convenient access to the site — work did not have to be planned around campus activities — helped cut the construction time. Workers are now installing carpet, painting and putting other finishing touches on the 13,000-square-foot building.
With offices scheduled to be relocated in March, Younts should be open for business by early April, in time to host late spring and early summer wedding receptions. The first event booked for the building is a corporate dinner April 20 sponsored by the Furman chemistry department
Arnold, who joined the university staff in 1997 as the director of Timmons Arena, now serves as executive director of conference and event services, a new office that has been developed to manage the Younts Center and the growing number of nontraditional on-campus meetings. Todd Duke, who has helped manage Timmons for seven years, will serve as associate director.
Marie Burgess, director of summer camps and conferences, has been folded into the new office as part of the reshuffling. Burgess, whose department was formerly part of Continuing Education, will be housed in the new building with Kay Cornelison, who recently joined the staff as director of the Younts Center.
In addition to managing Timmons Arena and the Younts Center, Conference and Event Services will also schedule events at the Furman Amphitheater and McAlister Auditorium. The Office of Summer Camps and Conferences will continue to serve as the scheduling authority for most campus facilities during the summer from June to August.
The conference center's main hall can accommodate groups of up to 400. It can also be sub-divided into five sections to host smaller gatherings.
With on-campus meeting space at a premium the past several years, the center has a long list of potential customers, including wedding and conference planners, area businesses and alumni.
Each year, the Daniel Chapel hosts approximately 27 weddings, many of them involving Furman alumni. Traditionally, however, most receptions have been held off campus because of the lack of a suitable reception area and the university's limited alcohol policy. But with the completion of Younts and the adoption of a new policy allowing alcohol to be served at Timmons Arena, Cherrydale, Younts and the golf course, June Saturdays in these campus showplaces should be festive.
The center is also expected to be used heavily by adult summer conferences. Last year, more than 9,000 people representing 80 groups attended an on-campus conference between June and August. Burgess says the Younts Center will provide the upscale meeting areas required by adult groups.
“The adult conferences are much more lucrative (than athletic camps),” says Burgess. “This opens up a whole new era for us. We are really looking forward to getting over there, promoting it and getting it rolling.”
Cornelison, who joined the staff in December, is also working hard to promote Younts. Helping her will be a group of 25 employees, appropriately named “Team 25,” with strong ties to the Greenville community.
A former sales manager for Clear Channel Communications, she is developing a guest list for a soft opening in April that will showcase the building to convention and event planners, businesspeople and civic leaders. “Furman has such a strong name in the community,” she says. “It makes it much easier to get in the door.”
Noting the university's golf course, tennis facilities and scenic lake, Cornelison says Younts offers several amenities that competitors, such as the Palmetto Exposition Center and downtown hotels, do not.
“This is such a unique setting. It allows you to incorporate different elements into your event planning,” she says.
Nearby, meeting space in Cherrydale provides customers the choice of another elegant meeting space. And the 1,600-square-foot DeSantis Pavilion, located beside Younts, can host large outdoor receptions.
“We have a lot of flexibility,” says Cornelison.
Arnold adds that as more alumni and community events are reserved at Younts and Cherrydale, meeting spaces in the University Center and Hartness Pavilion can be devoted to student-centered functions.
“This will also help relieve traffic congestion in the heart of campus, which has become mostly residential,” he says.
The naming gift for the center was provided by Melvin Younts, a 1950 Furman graduate, and his wife, Dollie, a graduate of Columbia College. Melvin Younts is a Greenville attorney and lifetime member of Furman's Advisory Council. The pavilion honors Blaine DeSantis, an attorney, Pennsylvania native and member of the class of 1975, and his wife, Magdalina.