Since the 2022 winter break, the Liberal Arts building has undergone major renovations. The LA program is considered the largest on campus, so the closure of the building has come with many repercussions.
Renovations are scheduled to take 9 months to complete, with plans to reopen the Liberal Arts building by the Fall 2023 semester.
Currently, maintenance is doing a complete replacement of HVAC to use heat pumps and refrigerant instead of boilers, removing ceilings, and upgrading lights to LED. Based on an article in The College VOICE, other possible plans would include adding card swipes for entering each classroom and security camera expansion throughout the building.
Josh Johnson, Assistant Director of Facilities and Maintenance, says, “There were certainly some storage issues. A lot of faculty had been in their offices for a long time and had accumulated a lot of stuff pertinent to their jobs.”
Scheduling and finding a time to do the renovation so that it didn’t disrupt classes was difficult. Conversations with contractors made it evident that the renovation wasn’t possible to do over the summer.
In 2020, asbestos was found during the renovations at the Student Center. Johnson does not believe this will be an issue during the LA building renovations.
“An outside environmental agency ran around 25-30 test samples throughout the building, and all came back negative,” says Johnson. Mercer is required to run tests and inspections on every building to ensure there is no asbestos or other hazardous material.
“There were preliminary discussions prior to the semester starting. When [professors] came back for pre-class week, they were told that it was definitely happening,” Johnson says.
However, students were not contacted over winter break about the building’s renovation and closure. Most students found out after seeing “UC” on their schedules.
Edith Santos, 17, a Career Prep student at MCCC, found the move to be challenging.
“I have never been to the UC building and it was difficult to find because it’s kinda hidden,” Santos says. “But once I found it I was able to get around. Personally, I like the UC building more – it feels like a different campus.”
Mercer County Community College’s President, Dr. Deborah Preston, acknowledged that students needed more guidance in locating the University Center.
“I sent out one or two emails to the rest of the college saying please be kind and gentle and welcoming, because I’m asking you to share your space, and it’s temporary. But we are trying to make this as painless as possible,” says Preston.
Mercer surveyed all existing office spaces to see which offices were empty and which ones could fit another person. Not only did Mercer have to contact professors within the LA building, but also professors from other buildings that would have to share their space.
It has been difficult for professors who had to move out of the Liberal Arts building and change offices due to the renovations.
Heather Jennings, a psychology professor at Mercer, believes that moving offices and classrooms has had both negative and positive outcomes.
“I’ve sat in the same spot for 20 years and got kind of set in my ways. I’m in a different building, I get to talk to people that I haven’t gotten to talk to in a long time because we haven’t crossed paths,” Jennings says. “Sometimes a little change is good.”
Jennings stated that there was a miscommunication between Johnson and the faculty members affected by the move.
“We were told that we each get two boxes. Anything else that didn’t fit in two boxes had to be thrown out or taken home,” Jennings says.“But for the most part, once we came back for pre-class week, that’s when we were all notified by our division Deans.”
Mercer has partnerships with four universities which allows the college to offer degree completion programs. This partnership is offered to students who have earned their associate’s degree at Mercer. Students can transfer to one of the four year schools while staying on the Mercer campus, inside the UC building.
Katherine Birckmayer, Manager of Academic Programs at Rutgers University through Mercer, believes that the merger has brought more attention to how the University Center can help students.
“It’s great to have more Mercer students in the building while they are still at Mercer,” Birckmayer said. “I think it wouldn’t work quite as well if we were completely cut off from the Mercer students, because then they wouldn’t have an opportunity to find out who we are or what we do.”
Patrick Noonan, William Paterson’s Transfer Programs and Special Sessions Director, agrees with Birckmayer.
“We are so excited you’re here because face it if some of the students weren’t forced to be in here you might not learn,” Noonan says, referring to students having classes in the UC building. “You’re here, we love it, you get to see us and know what we’re about.”
The renovation of the Liberal Arts building has brought many positive and negative changes to the campus. With hopes of the renovations being done soon, many are excited to get back to teaching and learning in the new and improved LA building.
