The University will spend $850,000 on new signs to help its four academic and research buildings on the Virginia Science and Technology Campus stand out on its suburban highway in Ashburn, Va.
The funds, approved this month by the Board of Trustees, will help pay for GW-branded signs to help draw attention to the 120-acre Virginia campus, which the University is looking to build up by adding buildings, research centers and graduate programs there.
Now, the campus is sprawled along Route 7 in Loudoun County, where jobs have sprouted and the economy has boomed – making it an attractive location for GW to do research and make connections with the local government.
The new signs will be installed this summer and fall to help unify the campus, Virginia campus dean Ali Eskandarian said in an email. The campus will add 38-foot-wide entrance signs, pole-mounted flags, logos for its four buildings and signs to direct cars and pedestrians.
“The new signage will create a visual presence for the campus as well as increase the ease of wayfinding on the campus and enhance both the ‘campus feel’ and campus connectivity,” Eskandarian said in an email.
The approved funds were part of the nearly $8 million pegged for capital repairs next year. Of the about $17 million earmarked for capital repairs through 2016, nearly all will be covered by operating revenues, which are made up mostly by tuition dollars. Other capital projects, like new construction, are covered by fundraising and I.O.U.’s.
The Virginia campus, which is about a 45-minute bus ride away from Foggy Bottom, houses 17 research laboratories and nearly 20 degree programs. The School of Nursing is based on the campus, as well as several programs within the College of Professional Studies.
The University is also building a 22,000-square-foot museum and art storage facility on the campus, which is expected to be finished by the end of the year and has cost GW about $7 million so far. About 30,000 more square feet will be set aside for academic and research space in the building, which will hold collections for the GW Museum.
