April
23,
2004
Admission
Office to Get Much-Needed Makeover
|
Architect's
rendering of the Newhall renovation |
In
early April, the College's admission staff vacated the Newhall
Center to make way for substantial and much-needed renovation.
They will spend the next seven months in temporary housing
in the
basement of Wilder Hall, the doublewide trailer near Pratt
Hall, and a gazebo to be erected between the trailer and Pratt.
According to Diane Anci, dean of admission, Newhall was last
renovated some 25 years ago. Since then, the number of prospective
students and their families who come to campus has nearly doubled,
and the building is too small to accommodate all visitors to
the College.
The two primary aims of the renovation are to expand the living
room, where visitors peruse information about the College and
wait for interviews and tours, and to create a space for the
daily or twice-daily information sessions the admission office
conducts for prospective students and their families.
The renovation, designed by Dennis Dowd of Ai Architects of Essex,
Connecticut, and financed largely by an anonymous donor, will
address both these space concerns. The plans include a new and
expanded living room to be built on the first floor and a handsome
octagonal room added to the back of the building, where information
sessions will be held. Both new spaces will be outfitted with
new tablet computers connected by a powerful wireless network.
Students can fill out their information on the tablet, their
parents can check their email, and interviewers
can even record handwritten notes about their interviews. Online
videos, special Web content, and current Mount Holyoke headlines
will also be fed into the tablets in real time. The information
room will have advanced projection, sound, and computer systems,
and various media sources, including a DVD player and cable television.
While Anci and her staff recognize the challenges of working
through their busiest time of the year in the cobbled-together
space near Pratt, she said, "We are very grateful to the
donor and the College for the wonderful new addition and the
opportunity to expand our outreach to prospective students."
he unhe
counter is
1,813
|
