Signage Project Makes Baylor Campus More 'Visitor-Friendly'

by Judy Long

Whether visitors to Baylor University are in their cars or just walking across campus, they will find it much easier to get around, thanks to the completion of a three-year, $1 million signage project.
The venture, part of a campus master plan approved by Baylor's board of regents in 1996, includes new campus entrance signs, building identification markers and directional signs and maps for both drivers and pedestrians.
"This signage will make Baylor much more accessible and visitor-friendly," said Rick Creel, assistant vice president for operations and facilities. "Visitors have told us for a long time that they needed a point of reference to help them get around from place to place at Baylor."
All university buildings are now identified with cast stone signs. Directional signs have been strategically placed to help drivers locate buildings, parking lots and other landmarks on campus.
Pedestrians are now benefiting from the final addition to the campus - nine 'Baylor green' kiosks with directional maps - which were installed during the summer.
"Alumni have told us that they thought they'd recognize everything when they came back to campus," Creel said. "We've had a lot of growth and sometimes things aren't as easily recognizable. The signage will be of great help to everyone."
The kiosks come in three different sizes.
Three large signs, each 8 by 4-and-a-half feet and lighted, have been placed at the Wiethorn Visitors Center, on Speight Avenue across from the Allbritton House, and on Fifth Street next to the parking garage and across from Penland Hall. The fiberglass maps, designed by Secker Brink Design Co. of Dallas, also are in the process of being updated to reflect the latest construction on campus, said Don Bagby, manager of facility planning in architectural and engineering services.
Two 7-and-a-half-feet tall signs, also lighted, offer direction on Speight Avenue across from Waco Hall and on Fifth Street across from Fountain Mall.
Two small signs are located on Eighth Street, across from Allen and Collins residence halls, and three more can be found between the Draper Academic Building and Pat Neff Hall, on M.P. Daniel Esplanade between Neill Morris Hall and the Bill Daniel Student Center and between Getterman Stadium and the Baylor Ballpark.
New Baylor entrance signs are in place at five locations on campus - Bagby Avenue and University Parks Drive, the entrance between the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center and the Wiethorn Visitors Center, Dutton Avenue and University Parks, Fourth Street and Dutton Avenue, and Eighth Street and Dutton Avenue.
Now that the entrance signs are in place and are attractively landscaped, Creel said phase two of the master plan will include "creating noticeable entrances" to the university, another important part of Baylor 2012, the university's 10-year vision.
Baylor also will begin work on a landscaping plan to further enhance the aesthetic value of campus, as stated in Imperative 8 in Baylor 2012, the university's 10-year vision. During the next decade, Baylor will give "increased attention to the aesthetic value of the campus" and ensure that the "major entries to the campus, as well as streets, walking plazas, landscaping and work of art, form a place that promotes community."