Renovations for the Student Center are currently underway as the fall semester gets rolling at Mercer.
The second floor of the Student Center is completely inaccessible, resulting in students now having to go elsewhere for many student services.
Areas like Admissions, Enrollment Services, and Financial Aid have relocated to the Administration building. Career and Transfer Services are now in the Library, and Veterans’ Services, Counseling, and Community Networks can be found on the first floor of the Student Center.
Mercer student, Donnell Walker, says, “During the first week of September, I was trying to get to the Financial Aid office. They told me it’s all the way down there…the AD building. So, you know, it kinda impacted my life a little bit.”
As students adapt to the changes, staff are also having to adapt. Staffers say they have had concerns about the way communication from the administration about the relocations was handled.
A Mercer staff member, who wished to remain anonymous based on concern for job safety, stated that there was no choice but to adjust.
“They were forceful adjustments for both students and faculty,” the employee said.
The staff member added that they felt there was little communication from administration and when there was, it was often not timely.
Move-in dates were changed with little warning according to staffers and departments were expected to move by the first week of August. They had only received a comprehensive email of the move about one to two weeks before it occurred.
According to the employee, administrators just came in and announced that the staff were moving.
In addition, staff say they were told they would have some input about room designs for the temporary locations. That didn’t happen. The rooms are cramped.
Dr. Jianping Wang, the President of Mercer County Community College, when asked about staff response, said, “It’s not easy. The move is stressful. The staff members have to accommodate. You know, they used to have private offices all to themselves and all of a sudden now they’re in open space, sharing open space with other people.”
While it is stressful, according to Dr. Wang, she states it is a prelude to the new space that the staff will move into once renovations are completed.
The new space aims to bring many student services to create the One-Stop Student Center.
In this plan, administration hopes that students will be able to attend to multiple issues like enrollment, financial aid, and registration in one space, rather than moving from one place to another.
Dr. Diane Campbell, Mercer’s Vice President for Student Affairs, says the renovations were planned due to students have to run around so much.
She says, “The idea is to have a one-stop so that for the most part, students will be able to sit down with one person and get just about everything done.”
It is just not the space that will be redone, but the jobs as well, in terms of the various types of services that staff members will be able to offer students. The plan is to make the process easier for students.
Dr. Wang states, “What we’re designing is a U-shape. So you go in there, you can go to any of the windows and get serviced for everything and then you go to the next window to pay because we cannot have the people who service take money. The money has to be separate. So, you will have to go to two windows. That’s it.”
The newly renovated space will also feature more chairs, couches, and desks available to students, as well as larger classrooms and meeting spaces.
Dr. Wang says, “So, we’re going to open up the whole center and create a Starbucks kind of experience for you. We’re going to put a lot of couches and tables and high chairs, low chairs…and put a lot of power plugs on the ground.”
Dr. Wang hopes that this will create a technology based environment for students and keep them prepared for their classes.
The president says she wants students to be able to see staff members in their offices in the new Student Center so that they feel more welcomed, rather than walking up to closed office doors and covered windows.
She states, “It’s all focused on students. That’s why we’re doing this.”
Renovations are expected to last for one year, with completion to be ready by the 2020-2021 school year.
