Hospital Nationally Ranked for Fifth Consecutive Year:

Emory University Hospital (EUH) maintained its ranking as the best hospital in Georgia and in metro Atlanta for the fifth year in a row, according to U.S. News and World Report. These rankings are based on a combination of clinical data, such as patient survival and safety rates, and a survey of physician specialists, who are asked to name five hospitals they consider the best for their specialties.

Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital ranked second in Georgia and in metro Atlanta, and EUH Midtown ranked ninth in Georgia and fifth in metro Atlanta, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and CEO of Emory Healthcare Jonathan Lewin said.

EUH was nationally ranked in six out of its 16 adult specialties, including cancer, geriatrics and orthopedics, the ranking said. Additionally, EUH was rated as “high performing” in nine adult procedures, meaning each procedure received a score in the top 10 percent of centers.

“Being an academic medical center sets [EUH] apart from [other hospitals],” Lewin wrote in an email to the Wheel. “We are focused on a tripartite mission to serve humanity through integration of education, discovery and clinical care.”

EUH saw more than 22,000 patient admissions and over 163,000 outpatient visits in fiscal year 2015, according to Lewin. It is notable that the hospital received this ranking given the high number of patients it serves, and important that it continues to “provide the most comprehensive, patient-centered care as possible,” he said.

Handshake Replaces Eagle Ops as Career Search Platform

In June, Handshake replaced Eagle Ops as Emory’s career search manager, a platform for students to search for jobs and internships and for employers to reach out to students,  according to Executive Director of the Career Center Paul Fowler. Emory had used Eagle Ops for over 15 years.

The primary difference between the platforms is that Handshake’s layout is more intuitive than Eagle Ops, offering simple navigation menus and layouts for users, Associate Director for Technology Initiatives Joe Sindad said.

Eagle Ops is powered by Symplicity, a company that partnered with the National Associations of Colleges and Employers (NACE) to monopolize university career search platforms, Fowler said. Until Handshake was launched three years ago, there were no other suitable options for Emory to switch platforms, Fowler added. After observing the success of Handshake at over 180 colleges and universities, including Stanford University (Calif.) and Wake Forest University (N.C.), Emory Career Center switched to Handshake.

Sindad added that Handshake, which already lists over 10,000 employers, has the capacity to reach thousands more employers, which offers more job and internship opportunities for Emory students.

Through the system, more than 100 employers contact the Emory Career Center each day, Fowler said. The site has also approximately doubled the number of jobs and internships available compared to this same time last year.

Emory’s Fall Career Fair already plans to host more than 85 companies — 10 more than in the previous year, which Fowler credits to Handshake’s ability to reach more employers.

Another section of the platform, called Career Shift, gives students access to all jobs and internships posted in the United States within the last 30 days. This allows students to search through all available and posted jobs, even if the employers have not made a direct connection with Emory, Fowler said.

Depot Undergoes Renovations, DUC-ling to Replace DUC

Emory Dining renovations will provide students with interim dining options during construction of the new Campus Life Center (CLC), according to Acting Director of Campus Dining Chad Sunstein. These changes include a renovated Depot and the DUC-ling, a dining commons set to open Summer 2017 when the Dobbs University Center (DUC) is torn down, Sunstein said.

Other dining changes include the addition of new vendors to the Farmer’s Market, such as Honey Bubble, which will sell bubble tea, and Revolution Gelato. Additionally, Strada Napoli Pizza will join the food truck rotations.

Last Saturday, the Depot opened a Kaldi’s Coffee, and added new power and USB outlets with which students can charge electronics to study and engage online, according to Sunstein. The addition of a pull-out stage will now provide musicians with a space to perform live, Senior Director of Emory Dining David Fuhrman said.

Fuhrman noted that Emory planned these changes based on suggestions from the student-run Food Advisory Committee at Emory (FACE).

Emory also constructed a new Kaldi’s Coffee in the School of Medicine. This location will act as the central Kaldi’s location once the DUC and its current Kaldi’s are demolished, Fuhrman said.

The University and its Board of Trustees must still approve plans for the CLC in upcoming weeks, but Director of the DUC Benjamin Perlman anticipates that demolition of the DUC and construction of the CLC will begin May 2017. He added that the CLC is estimated to open in 2019.

College senior Echo Zeng is looking forward to a new CLC facility but is unsure of what to expect from the DUC-ling.

“I’m worried that there will be a difference in the quality of food when I eat at [the DUC-ling] as opposed to a permanent, legitimate dining hall,” Zeng said. “However, I’m excited to check out the new Campus Life Center.”

Emory commissioned and conducted a study Spring 2014 to survey University stakeholders about what they want in a new university center, said Perlman. He added that 150 students and 50 faculty members participated in the study.

The CLC will have large spaces for student groups to hold events and spaces that “foster community between students and within student organizations” and create a “positive change to the University” as a result of the survey, according to Perlman.  

“A university center should be more than dining,” Perlman said. “I think [students] will find that the new Campus Life Center will really embody that.”

Renovations To Make Clifton Road Safer and Accommodate Traffic:

Clifton Road will undergo renovations this year to improve efficiency of traffic flow and safety to pedestrians, bikers and drivers, according to Vice President of Campus Services Matthew Early.

One project, titled Clifton Streetscape, will repave sidewalks along Clifton Road, according to Early, who described the current conditions of Clifton Road as “rough.” The project is slated for completion between April and May of 2017.

Through a second project, Emory will construct a new pedestrian bridge over Clifton Road, connecting Emory University Hospital’s (EUH) J-Wing to the existing hospital. The current bridge will be removed soon after construction concludes, according to a University press release.

Planning for these changes began four years ago, alongside plans to build the new J-Wing of the EUH, according to Early. Plan implementation and design creation for the new roads began last year.

Clifton Road will not only be safer for pedestrian travel through the addition of wider sidewalks and a pedestrian bridge, but it will also be safer for other modes of travel, Early said. Additional bike lanes and wider lanes for cars will accommodate larger vehicles, such as Emory shuttles.

“[The changes are] going to slow the traffic down in that area to create a safer climate for all students, faculty, administrators and patients,” Early said.

The project will also add curb appeal to Clifton Road with new lighting, grass strips and trees lining the sidewalks, which will help pedestrians feel safer from road traffic and make the area “feel more like a neighborhood,” said Early.  
“Right now, Clifton Road is just this massive old road,” Early said. “There are a lot of students, faculty, staff and patients who walk back and forth along this road, so we want to give the sense that this road is truly a part of [the] Emory campus.”

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Lauren is an Environmental Science and Media Studies double major from Braselton, Georgia. She is a staff writer for the Emory Wheel, a member of Pi Beta Phi, president of Emory Running Club and a member of the Emory Environment Senate Committee. In her free time, she likes to play with her four dogs, including one named Kat!