The admission office is up and running again in the newly renovated
Newhall Center. The renovations, which took nearly nine months to
complete, have revitalized the space, which was last remodeled some
26 years ago.
“ Newhall is a felicitious blend of the old and the new,
the venerable and the hip, like all of our recent projects,”
President Joanne V. Creighton said. The part of the building that
fronts College Street was originally a frame house, older than the
College itself. The structure evolved from a private house to the
first Pearsons Annex, then to the Hadley Bookshop, then to the beloved
Bookshop Inn still remembered by many.
In 1979, the building was transformed into Newhall Center by architect
Elizabeth Spang Ericson ’61. “Now, in its latest transformation,
carrying her [Ericson’s] ideas further and adding considerable
pizzazz and functionality, it has realized its full potential as
an admission center,” Creighton said.
Adding to the building is a prominent front portico and a stunning
glass corridor flowing through the building toward the main campus.
Beautiful modern details incorporated in the new entrance are coupled
with retention of classic elements such as the white clapboard exterior
that is in keeping with the white frame structures around it.
According to Diane Anci, dean of admission, the major aim of the
project was to accommodate the volume of visitors to the admission
office, which has nearly doubled in the past three decades. To this
end, the living room was enlarged to create a comfortable space
where visitors can relax, review information, and wait for tours.
Also, the center now has a handsome octagonal meeting room at the
back of the building, echoing other octagonal-shaped rooms on campus,
where information sessions are conducted for prospective students
and their families. Both spaces are equipped with state-of-the-art
technology connected by a powerful wireless network. Students can
fill out their admission information on tablet computers, and parents
can check their email and get directions to other campuses on their
tours. Eventually, visitors will be able to view online videos and
peruse the College’s Web site.
“The additional square footage will help us do our work with
pro-spective students and families,” Anci said. “We
also appreciate the beauty and sophistication of the design.”
The Newhall renovation was made possible by the generous gift of
an anonymous donor. The meeting room is named the Jenkins Room in
memory of Joy Mooney Jenkins ’53, who was an active alumna
and longtime volunteer. For ten years, Mrs. Jenkins served as the
1953 class president. She was also the president of the South Shore
club in the Boston area and, most recently, served on her fiftieth
reunion gift committee. Mrs. Jenkins’s family will attend
a dedication of the room with the trustees this week.
In addition to the new spaces, the office has restructured the
staff to dedicate one staff member to the functions of the meeting
room and all prospective students who take advantage of the campus
visit program. Christy O’Brien FP ’04 will conduct daily
information sessions. She and the admission fellows and tour guides
will serve as contacts for the students they meet.
After spending nine months working out of a doublewide trailer
near Pratt and the basement of Wilder Hall, the admission staff
is thrilled to be back in Newhall Center. “From the beginning,
everyone who participated in the renovation understood our goals,”
Anci said. “From the generosity of the donor to the vision
of the architect and the skill of the builders, we have gotten all
we could have hoped for and more. We look forward to using the space
to continue to achieve and surpass the ambitious goals set for the
College’s enrollment effort.”
