April 13, 2005

Moraga, CA - Saint Mary's College Director of Athletics and Recreational Sports, Carl Clapp announced that the Gensler has been hired to review the Athletic and Recreational Facilities of the College. Saint Mary's has acquired the services of Gensler to help develop an Athletic Regional Plan for all the athletic facilities of the College.

Keith Fuchigami and John Parkin are the two consultants from Gensler that will work with Saint Mary's. Fuchigami and Parker will evaluate current athletic facilities at the College, review various plans that have been discussed during the past several years, and develop a plan for athletic venues, which will be molded into the Saint Mary's building plans. Fuchigami and Parker will prepare an evaluation matrix for each of the proposed athletic and recreation venues.

"I have confidence in Gensler, and Keith and John to help get our facilities plan moving in the right direction," said Clapp. "Once the facilities plan is developed, we will move quickly to begin raising funds to enhance our athletic and recreational facilities."

The topics to be discussed include the condition of existing venues in terms of code and seismic issues, functional issues, drainage, conditions of the turf and irrigation and noise and lighting issues. The matrix will help in the decision making process as to whether an existing facility should be remodeled or replaced. Other areas of focus will be suitable locations for additional venues, creations of zones for athletics, recreation, and student life, location of additional parking for the venues, and pedestrian access to the venues.

"I anticipate that we will start fundraising for new facilities or renovations of existing facilities in the next few months. We are looking forward to working collaboratively with our campus architect, our colleagues in student life, SMC's Advancement Office and the President's Office during this process," added Clapp.

Fuchigami and Parkin have helped produce athletic facilities at a number of California institutions over the years. Some of the projects included the Pat Malley center at Santa Clara University, the Activities and Recreation Center at UC Davis, the Burns Recreation Center at LMU, and Jenny Craig Pavilion at San Diego. Both have also been involved with buildings at Pepperdine, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside and USC.