Mount Aloysius recently completed a $7 million renovation project that transformed the library into the Mountie Success Commons & Library. Mirror photo: Conner Goetz
CRESSON — After nearly two years of planning and construction, Mount Aloysius College today will cut the ribbon on the second and final phase of its $7 million library renovation project.
The upgraded Mountie Success Commons & Library features state-of-the-art facilities for students, as well as a new home for the career center, tutoring center, and high-tech cyber security lab.
Planning/design
Vice President for Academic Affairs Dave Haschak led the renovations after the university’s Board of Trustees began searching for a new home for the career center in late 2022.
Hasak said the career center was previously relegated to a single office in the administration building and didn’t have a dedicated space to host large-scale seminars or events.
Mount Aloysius students study in the newly renovated Mountie Success Commons & Library. Mirror photo: Conner Goetz
“We’re seeing an increased demand from students looking for help finding their first job, preparing for interviews, and things like that,” Haschak said. “So we decided to increase the number of staff and also increase the services, and the space at the end just wasn’t conducive to (that).”
After inspecting the Cresson campus, university administrators settled on the following:
2nd floor “slightly underground”
Hasak said they used the library building.
It added that the location is also a new, highly visible and easily accessible hub for the centre.
Mount Aloysius recently completed a $7 million project to transform the library into the Mountie Success Commons & Library, featuring a revamped career center and upgraded student amenities. Mirror photo: Conner Goetz
Additionally, during the initial planning process for the Career Center relocation, administrators believed that moving other student support services to the library was a worthwhile investment because it would be located in one central location on campus. I agreed.
Haschak said administrators held multiple focus groups with students, faculty and architects to identify the core needs that Success Commons should address.
“We talked about what potential this space could have, and the final product…is the culmination of meetings with all involved,” he said.
The new Mountie Success Commons & Library includes a career center, tutoring center, advising center, student testing center, cybersecurity lab, and advanced teaching and learning center for teacher professional development. Masu.
The first phase of construction, which includes the majority of the career center and cyber security lab, will be completed by fall 2023, with work on the remaining services to be completed in early fall 2024.
Mount Aloysius staff members chat in the tutoring center in the newly renovated Mountie Success Commons & Library. Mirror photo: Conner Goetz
This included moving Mount’s collection of books and reference materials from the second floor to the first floor.
The $7 million renovation was funded through a combination of internal capital, alumni donations and a limited number of state and local grants, Haschak said.
The success of the Success Commons project is evidenced by the growing number of students taking advantage of the space and its surrounding services, Haschak said.
“This is really important. It’s definitely more students than we had here this time last year,” Haschak said.
career center
A view of the Mount Aloysius campus from the newly renovated library. Mirror photo: Conner Goetz
Sarah Cordish, associate director of career development, leads the career center and helped shape the design process for Success Commons’ new location.
Cordish said the space is much larger than his previous office in the administration building, and the new capacity allows him to hire additional staff.
“We doubled our team,” Cordish said.
Cordish’s new center features a dedicated interview room, desktop computers for revising resumes, and a “career closet” where students can find professional attire for job fairs and interviews, free of charge.
The Mount has many students who live in on-campus dorms and international students who are not familiar with the area, so having an on-campus career closet will help alleviate the stress of getting dressed for an important interview. Mr. Disch said.
“This is a really great resource,” she said. The previous career closet was a very small room in a corner of the administration building, making it difficult for students to find.
Another benefit of the expanded career center is the ability to host events on-site instead of busing students around the region for job fairs.
“We are now able to host events in our own dedicated space,” Kordish said.
student comfort
Hasak said making the space comfortable for students was a top priority for the renovation project.
That prompted the addition of a small kitchenette and more outlets for charging phones and laptops, in addition to a variety of new seating options strategically placed throughout the room, he said.
Students can now choose to sit and study at traditional desks, group work tables, or soft sofas.
Success Commons also includes more than 10 new group study rooms equipped with whiteboards and display screens that students can reserve for intensive work sessions.
“The thing I enjoy most here is the study room. It’s really big. I know my roommate uses it,” sophomore Kaylee Conlon said. “This place is fully booked. We hardly get study rooms. It’s so used.”
Soundproofed rooms provide a more private study area than shared dorms or classrooms.
“It’s really great for studying,” Conlon added.
Dillon Trausi, a junior IT major, said he appreciates the new Cyber Security Lab, which allows students to access and learn from high-end hardware that would otherwise be out of reach.
The lab is equipped with 25 three-monitor desktop computers and a complete server room where students can learn network management. This funding was funded in part by a $100,000 investment in our cybersecurity program earlier this year.
Trausi said the previous computer lab was in the basement of the library, but the new ground floor location “presents (IT programs) well.”
“There’s much more space, it’s much more open, and we feel much more accepted on this campus,” he added. “We feel like this school got the right neighborhood and the right respect that we needed.”
Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz can be reached at 814-946-7535.
