Iowa State University

This past summer, I attended an academic conference at Iowa State University in Ames. I found Iowa State to be one of the prettiest campuses I've seen in a long time! Plus, Ames has two robust business districts -- Campustown, which is right across the street from ISU, and downtown, which is a short bus ride away -- to serve students, residents, and visitors.

Signs of nature abound on the Iowa State campus in the form of flowers, trees, birds, and lush lawns.

And that's not even including Reiman Gardens, adjacent to the main campus, which I was not able to get to during my visit.

Iowa State's sports teams are known as the Cyclones, but "Cy the Cardinal" is also a major mascot. The picture above shows us why!

Behind the Campanile (bell tower) in the very first photo above, is a large lawn, reminiscent of The Oval at Ohio State. The lawn at Iowa State is surrounded by several buildings, a few of which are shown below. These buildings are, respectively, Beardshear Hall, Carrie Chapman Catt Hall, Curtiss Hall (the old Agriculture Building), and the Gerdin Business Building (one of the venues for the conference I attended).

Buildings just outside the loop surrounding the lawn include, respectively, the Farm House Museum, and Food Science Building (home of the ISU Creamery and ice-cream store).

Across the street from the Campanile is the Memorial Union, where most of the conference was held.

Here's a view of the Memorial Union from closer up.

Like student unions at many midwestern universities such as Indiana-Bloomington and Wisconsin-Madison, Iowa State's offers a variety of activities and facilities such as a bowling alley, art gallery, food court, meeting rooms, and bookstore.

The campus also features Lake LaVerne, immediately to the west of the Memorial Union, The next two shots show the lake in relation to the Campanile and to the Union.

The campus also has an extensive system of residence halls. One large complex near the Union is Friley.

I stayed in a different residence hall, Eaton.

Across Lincoln Way from Iowa State is Campustown, a student-oriented business district with pizza and other fast-food restaurants, coffee houses, school apparel shops, and modern apartment towers (a shout-out to Jeff's Pizza, where each slice is nearly as big as the plate!).  

A bit away from campus, as noted, is downtown Ames, with its welcoming signs.

Featuring numerous restaurants and bars, and everything from an arts center to specialty tea shop, downtown is a nice place to spend some time. Two stores in which I browsed extensively were Dog-Eared Books, a very community-oriented store in terms of staff recommendations and author presentations... 

... and Raygun, which offers a variety of satirical and political shirts, stickers, and other mementos, as well as general ISU-related items...

Raygun had a field day with Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst defending Medicaid cuts because, regardless of health care, "We all are going to die."

Finally, for those who enjoy visiting state capitals, Iowa's in Des Moines is 45 minutes from campus...

College of Charleston (2025)

I was in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, earlier this summer for an academic conference and walked through the College of Charleston to take some pictures (this entry updates some photos my wife took at "C of C" in 2017).

King Street is one of the major thoroughfares in downtown Charleston, featuring many pricey restaurants, bars, and shops.

The campus is just a few blocks down King Street from where the conference was held. Walking through the campus area, one finds various plazas, often with abundant trees, bushes, and flowers.

C of C features a mix of newer buildings such as the Science Center...

and School of Business...

and some departments housed in, well, houses...

(Shown above, left to right, are the English Department, Communication faculty offices, and Communication Department.)

Another similar structure is Sottile House (below), once a women's residence hall and now the home of Institutional Advancement (e.g., fundraising).

One attractive area I could not approach featured a large lawn with a columned building in the background. Due to a soundcheck for an upcoming event, the gates around the lawn were locked. 

University of Houston

Lubbock, Texas radio broadcaster Mike Gustafson took some photos of the University of Houston earlier this spring when in town to call the Texas Tech-Houston baseball series. This is the third campus Mike has photographed (along with Rice and Baylor) and, as always, I greatly appreciate his generosity. I did a postdoctoral fellowship at UH from 1989-1991 (pre-Internet) and had not been back to the campus since, so it was interesting for me to see what it looks like 34 years later!

A major landmark on the UH campus is the Ezekiel Cullen Building, which hosts administrative offices.

One of the majors for which UH is best known is hospitality (hotel and restaurant) management. As shown in the next picture, the Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership features its own hotel, where students gain hands-on experience in hotel operations.

Next is the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts.

UH has two adjoining Student Centers, North and South. Here is the latter...

Another student amenity is the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, shown next.

Lastly are the UH Cougars' two football facilities, TDECU Stadium* and the indoor practice building.

*Standing for Texas Dow Employees Credit Union.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Mark Armour, a Facebook friend of mine who I meet through the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), posted some photos of his alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on the social media site a while back and kindly agreed to let me use them here. RPI is located in Troy, New York, as part of the Tri-City Capital District of Albany-Schenectady-Troy. 

As Rensselaer's full name implies, technology is a huge part of its mission. Most (44%) students major in engineering, followed by computer science (21%). Other fields such as math, statistics, physical sciences, and biology draw a few percentage each. Fields outside the sciences such as business and the arts also draw a few percentage (source). Accordingly, you'll see mainly STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) facilities among the campus photos below.

Shown first is the Voorhees Computing Center. One year ago, the center received the first IBM quantum computer to be located on a college campus.

Following is the Walker Laboratory, built in 1906, which hosts Chemistry.

Related to Chemistry is Chemical Engineering, which is housed in the Ricketts Building (along with Biological Engineering).

Next is the Greene Building, home of the School of Architecture. 

According to the School's website:

The history of the School of Architecture at Rensselaer dates back to 1848 when Benjamin Franklin Greene, the senior professor, and director at Rensselaer at that time, traveled to Europe to undertake the first systematic study of educational models, examining, among others, the École Des Beaux-Arts and École Politechnique in Paris. Upon his return, he wrote, The True Idea of a Polytechnic, premised on looking forward to the creation of a new world. He proposed the “Rensselaer School” become “The Rensselaer Polytechnic of Engineering and Architecture,” asserting Architecture to be essential to any polytechnic “worthy of the name.”

The Lally School of Management (below) shows the hilly terrain of the RPI campus.

The Troy Building, formerly the home of Civil Engineering, now hosts the President, Provost, and various Vice Presidents.

Finally, there is one building I was unable to identify.