After 13 years as the director of Campus Recreation, Juliette Moore will be tossing in the towel and heading to Pensacola, Fla., for a much anticipated retirement. A reception was held for Moore in the recently completed addition to the Student Recreation Center, a 42,000-square foot addition that Moore spent the latter half of her career at the UA planning. Moore will be honored with a scholarship in her name that will be presented to students involved in campus recreation.
What are your plans following your retirement as director of Campus Recreation?
Heading to the beach, baby. I mean, hopefully it is not too oil slick. I also plan to play congas in my brother’s rhythm and blues band. My stage name is Conga Red.
What was your most memorable experience at the UA?
Working with students to construct the expansion to the Rec Center. Every place I went, the students were the focus. Students need to have the number one spot in the planning process. That’s something I made sure happened.
What were some of the challenges in building the new recreational facility?
You had some of the basic challenges. Making sure you had enough money — we had to stay within a tight budget. We had to look at how to reduce costs where we needed to without affecting the integrity of the building. We looked at ways we could keep it for the long term so it was sustainable. That has been a real pleasant surprise for us, because it looks like the center may become the first LEED platinum certified rec center in the country. We are still waiting to get the final approval from the LEED certifying committee. We will find out about that next year.
Why was sustainability so important in constructing the Rec?
It’s a university directive now to look at how we can make all buildings on campus sustainable. It’s a tremendous directive that I think all campuses across the country are doing. The UA is taking the lead in that and that will be a nice feather in our cap here.
When the Rec Center finally opened, how did you feel?
It was like, oh man what a tremendous achievement. I really felt like OK, it is time to look at having some fun. I had a brother pass away last September and it put my life in full focus. I realized I needed to look at life and start being a little selfish.
How did you see the UA change over your tenure here?
Throughout my tenure here I have seen the UA look at sustainability not only in regards to the environment but financially as well. That is something that we really put an emphasis on. We ended up receiving half the funding for the proposed student fee. That was exciting for us. We didn’t want to just put the funding on the back of the students. Now we are looking at how we can become more sustainable on our own financially through retail and various other efforts. I think that is something that is really becoming a focus. The economy is driving the industry.
Any words of wisdom for your replacement?
Stay student centered. That is very critical for any national program that is well renowned in the industry. Never lose sight of that. Those would be my words of wisdom. You are always learning, you should never stop learning.
