The renovation of Shoemaker Hall is finally complete, reuniting the university’s Counseling Center that had been split up for more than a year during the building’s extensive facelift.
The $9.8 million renovation started in summer 2009, forcing the learning assistance center and testing office to move to the top floor of the South Campus Dining Hall, while the center’s administrative, counseling and disability support services were relocated to Susquehanna Hall.
“The transitions went as smoothly as possible,” said David Petersen, a staff psychologist who served as the center’s refurbishment coordinator with Facilities Management.
“The temporary space worked well, but we are very happy to be back.”
Although center Assistant Director Marcy Marinelli said splitting up the five departments was less than ideal, she noted the counseling center did not see any significant decline in student visits.
“We’re pretty much on track,” she said.
For other members of the counseling staff, returning to a modernized version of the home they had once inhabited was a welcome event.
“We feel very positive about the return to Shoemaker Hall,” counselor Shirley Browner said. “We’re looking forward to a great semester where all five units can be under one roof again.”
Browner said having the entire center together makes seeking help much more convenient for students — if they are referred to a division of the counseling center, they now only have to climb a flight of stairs instead of finding another building.
Capital Projects Director Carlo Colella, the pointman on overseeing the renovation for Facilities Management, said Shoemaker was more than in need of a facelift — it hadn’t had a major update in many years.
“It’s a completely transformed building,” he said. “It’s satisfying to do that to a building with as much character as Shoemaker.”
According to Colella, the university-funded renovation consisted of a complete gutting of the interior; updating the electrical, lighting, fire alarm and piping systems; and restoring the main lecture hall that sits on the building’s top floor.
Officials were unable to comment on what will happen to the office spaces in Susquehanna and the South Campus Dining Hall inhabited by the counseling center during the year-and-a-half renovation.
And although new buildings such as Knight Hall and the Kim Engineering Building often get the most attention, students who take classes in Shoemaker said they are proud to learn in one of the university’s oldest — and now nicest— buildings.
“It’s probably the nicest building I’ve been in,” said Leah Castrovince, a freshman hearing and speech sciences major.
Sophomore Lianne Douglas was most impressed with the updated lecture hall’s brand new amenities.
“The seats are too comfortable,” she said. “I’m afraid I’m gonna fall asleep in class.”
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