New alumni building completion date set for spring of 2010

Keene State College's alumni building will see change in the near furture with a new location in the works.

This new building plans on incorporating students, faculty, and the community on academic and social levels.

Since 2004, the college's master plan has included major changes in the alumni building. The alumni center will be moved across from the post office on Marlborough Street.

This move has caused controversy on a local and political level. Jay Kahn, vice president for finance said, "What originally surfaced as a political issue was further identified as a misunderstanding. "

Plans are being made for a selective demolition in fall 2008, but no real construction will take place until spring 2009.

The work will continue through the summer and the building will be ready for occupation in spring 2010. "Right now we are trying to create a building that fits into the character of Main Street," said Kahn.

"We want the building to maintain a residential feel by setting it back from the street and keeping the height and roof as residential as possible. Previously a three level building has now turned into a two level building with most of the work being done in building 232," said Kahn.

This expansion also has a lot to do with storage issues. Right now the alumni building holds supplies for major events such as homecoming and alumni weekend. Along with this fact comes the obvious increase in student enrollment and the need to get KSC on the same track as the rest.

"Keene State is late to this game, we are not unique. The overall campus master plan from 2004 plan anticipated some enrollment growth and how the campus would accommodate the additional students as well as programs and support services," said Kahn.

Another luxury that will be gone due to the move is the rent out rooms that are upstairs in the alumni office. These rent out rooms make it possible for alumni to come back to the college and stay on campus but as of June, alumni's will no longer have this unique opportunity.

Kahn explained that, "additional rooms would be made available for alums in Fiske Hall."

The new alumni center will encompass three main characteristics that will bring not only faculty and students together but also the community. Included in this building will be a function hall and a call center both of which can be used to benefit the college.

"The function space will enable current students to begin to build relationships with the alumni center during their college experience," said Kahn. Meetings for honor society, award ceremonies, clubs and organizations could all use this alumni center for functions.

"It will create function space that is currently not available. The new alumni center will have a function hall for 100 people and that room can be broke into two separate spaces and accommodate two groups of 50," said Kahn.

This function space will not only enable alums to come back and use the college but it could serve as an aid to the community.

"The function space could also support other compatible uses like the Cheshire Adult learning program which does adult education courses," said Kahn.

"Current students would be able to use the building for job fairs, meets, and clubs and organizations which are all important ways of making connections with the alums during students on campus experience," said Kahn.

While "the call center could serve as a secondary use to support survey research by the college and students and this would support their engagement with community groups," said Kahn.

The third biggest factor is having the ability to put all the staff in the same location. "Right now the alumni advancement staff are in two different locations spread out amongst Elliot. By bringing this faculty together we are opening up the chance for synergies to be created," said Kahn.

"This move will bring the college and community closer. It creates a permanent archive for the college which will make historic documents much more accessible to alums," said Kahn.

Juniors Rachel Keller and Lindsay Taflas have been advancement and alumni managers for three years now. Although this move ultimately will not affect them, they still have their concerns.

"Everything on this campus is expanding and more room is needed. It's regrettable that alums won't be able to come and stay on campus anymore but I still think the move will be beneficial to our department," said Keller.

"It's really unfortunate that alums can't stay on campus anymore. This was a very unique characteristic of our college and I think it meant a lot to the alumni's to have a place where they felt welcomed," said Taflas.

With a future that looks like it's expanding in many levels, it's not surprising that more room would be needed. This move not only creates more space for alumni but also for Elliot Hall.

"The new alum center will be an important part of the KSC future. Every college has experienced growth, its part of privatizing higher education and we have become more dependent on developing relations from outside sources and donors.