Returning alumni may be overwhelmed this weekend to see their alma mater fenced off, carved up and covered up. UA officials are prepared with their new construction motto: Building. Smart. Enhancing our Centers of Learning.

Several steps have been taken to alert alumni, who are returning for homecoming this weekend, of the ongoing construction around campus, said John Diamond, associate vice chancellor of university relations.

“We sent out a video to our alumni that summarizes the construction projects on campus,” Diamond said.

The YouTube video describes all ongoing, upcoming and recently finished construction projects around the UA campus including Vol Walker Hall, Ozark Hall, Hillside Auditorium and Peabody Hall among several others.

“The University of Arkansas is growing quickly and renovating, upgrading and expanding our facilities as needed to keep pace with growth,” according to the video. “We’re also working hard to preserve our most iconic campus buildings and to improve the quality and sustainability of the university’s learning environment.”

In addition to the YouTube video, a ‘cut-and-go map’, courtesy of University Relations, was printed on the back of the Oct. 27 issue of “The Arkansas Traveler,” featuring the university’s new construction motto.

“It was a group effort by university relations to help the campus community recognize that construction is a temporary and major investment,” Diamond said.

The decision to notify the campus community and visitors of the ongoing construction was not a result of complaints, he said.

“[It was] something we planned to do,” he said. “We hoped to have the banners up by early September, but we weren’t able to put them up until last week. “It’s a way to let visitors know that things don’t look as pretty as they normally look.”

Students also have advised those who are responsible for marketing campus construction , said ASG President Michael Dodd.

The associated student government has been involved in “the decision-making process” regarding which buildings should be renovated, Dodd said, and “the conversation about marketing on campus.”

“I think there has been a lot of negativity about the construction,” Dodd said, “[ASG is] a liaison between student complaints and the university.”

Most alumni feedback is regarding Old Main lawn, Dodd said, but the construction marketing was “geared toward students and faculty.”

The construction promotion is “a constant reminder to people having to go five minutes out of their way for class every morning [that] construction is a part of growth,” he said.

Regarding Senior Walk, many names remain covered by temporary roads put in place to allow trucks to access the heart of campus.

“We hoped to replicate [those] sections of Senior Walk,” Diamond said, “by displaying posters of the names around the union.

“Unfortunately, we were not able to do that before this weekend.”