I’m very pleased to welcome everyone back for the Spring 2007 semester. We have a wonderful group of new students joining the Trinity family this year, and many old friends and classmates returning for the new semester. We’ve spent a great deal of time during the winter break working on various upgrades to facilities — Facilities Director Richard Greco and his hard-working teams did not take a Christmas break. Instead, they worked in overdrive for a few short weeks to accomplish these major projects:

• extensive renovations in the kitchen, servery and dining room in Alumnae Hall
• complete replacement of the boilers and chiller in Kerby Hall
• replacement of drains and gutters all around the roof of Main Hall
• repairing many roof problems throughout the campus
• cleaning and repairing many items in the interior of Notre Dame Chapel

You cannot see most of the work, but you will feel the results. However, in Alumnae Hall, the results are highly visible and spectacular. Below are some photographs to give you the flavor of what’s been going on” but come see it in person! Sodexho is planning a ‘Grand Re-Opening’ on Wednesday, January 17 in the dining hall. I encourage all members of the campus community to have lunch or dinner over there on Wednesday —- and then plan to return and enjoy your regular meals there often.

In the photos below, you can see the new Deli station in the dining hall, new beverage station, and the amazing new servery (the cafeteria line) which has all new equipment. Downstairs in the kitchen we’ve installed new ovens and stoves and other new equipment.

These projects were very expensive, but we did have help from various sources. I want to thank Sodexho for making it possible for Trinity to fund the dining hall project. Thanks as well to the Sodexho team for great leadership, creativity and hard work not only on this project but also on the event for Nancy Pelosi.

Many thanks as well to Aramark for helping to fund the Kerby Hall HVAC project, and thanks to Mr. Greco and the Aramark team for the tremendous hard work in getting all of these projects done in time for the start of the Spring 2007 semester!

Our alumnae generosity in the Annual Fund has also been a vital source of support for the ongoing upgrades in Main Hall. Many thanks to all donors!!

New servery:

New beverage and deli stations:

New kitchen equipment:

New Kerby boilers (several of these, and a new chiller!)

Roofing and drain replacement: