Completion of the facility was the top project on a list of summer improvements at Monmouth that also included card-entry access for all residence halls and select academic buildings; the construction of a 127-space parking lot on East Euclid Avenue; and several other smaller projects.

A worker prepares the tiered floor prior to the installation of seats in the new residence hall's private theater.

Located between Boston and Clinton avenues, the new hall will houses 87 students on its three floors. The main entry to the college’s fourth new living space in the past six years is on North Sixth Street. Other recently created halls on campus include Bowers (2001), the Founders Village complex (2004) and North (2005).

“I really like it,” said Monmouth’s director of facilities management, Earl Wilfong. “It’s got lots of single rooms (19), which the students really like, and I like its color scheme and accessibility. What I think is really going to distinguish it from the other dorms is its home theater. That was a very nice touch.”

The 16-seat theater is located on the first floor and features a large screen TV and SurroundSound. Students will be able to reserve the space to watch movies or popular shows, and Wilfong said faculty might also wish to use the theater for certain classes.

Also located on the first floor are the hall’s vending and laundry areas and a recreational lounge. The second floor includes the head resident’s apartment, a study room and another lounge, while the third floor, which accommodates 36 students, is primarily residential.

Besides the 19 singles, there are a similar number of double-occupancy rooms, as well as seven triples. Rather than an entire floor or half a floor sharing a restroom, Wilfong said that the hall is designed so that just two to four students will share one.

The new hall, which took about 11 months to complete, is the first to be built on campus with the card-entry access system, but Wilfong said the other residence halls also had the system installed on their outer doors. He called that project the biggest one of the summer and said that security issues were a big reason behind it.

“We were headed this way even before the Virginia Tech situation,” he added.

In addition to the residence halls, select students will also have after-hours card access to the Haldeman-Thiessen Science Center, the Mellinger Teaching and Learning Center and McMichael Academic Hall.

Another benefit of the new system is that if students lose their cards, keys or locks do not have to be replaced. A few keystrokes on a computer can simply cancel the old card and set up a new one, much like a hotel.

In the near future, Wilfong said, a single card might be used for identification, meals, vending machines, building access and laundry, diminishing or even eliminating students’ need for loose change and campus keys.

“We’re moving to a day on campus when one card can do everything for you,” said Wilfong. “Students won’t have to deal with any cash on campus.”

Another area in which technology is increasing efficiency is in the regulation of the new residence hall’s temperature, especially during college breaks. When the building is not in use, Wilfong’s staff can now use a computer to regulate the thermostats, rather than having to go to each block of rooms and make the appropriate temperature changes.

Other energy-saving improvements made over the summer include the installation of water-efficient toilets in the new residence hall and new windows in Liedman Hall and the fraternity complex.

“It gives both buildings a new look,” said Wilfong.

Speaking of new looks, students will see plenty of new areas of grass and sidewalk that didn’t exist when they left campus last May. Wilfong said that 14,000 square yards of sod were laid in the past few months, much of it around the new hall, and "a couple thousand" linear feet of sidewalk were installed.

A total of 560 yards of concrete is poured in a single day at the site of a new parking lot on East Euclid.

The biggest addition of cement, though, occurred a little bit off campus at the new parking lot, where Wilfong reported an amazing 560 yards were poured in one day.

“That was an interesting pour,” he said. “Anybody who knows anything about concrete knows that’s a heck of a lot of concrete in one day.”

Located on Euclid Avenue, at the former site of the Pinewood Health Care Center, the new lot will be used primarily by freshmen, although some of the residents of the new hall might also find it useful.

“We razed six houses over the summer, so we lost a little bit of parking there, but this new lot should give us a net gain of about 75 spaces,” said Wilfong. “It will most definitely alleviate some of our campus parking issues.”

Other campus improvements included extensive interior renovations to Graham Hall, the second floor of Wallace Hall and the property at 1002 E. Broadway, which is the new home of the philosophy and religious studies department.

“I’m very pleased with how it turned out,” said Wilfong of the latter project. “It looks very nice, and their offices are much bigger than their previous space on College Place.”

The Wallace Hall project focused on five classrooms and includes new lighting, carpeting, desks and furniture, as well as four projection screens and SmartBoards and grayboards to replace the chalkboards.