Member News- June 9, 2021

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to have an actual event,” said Dan Knorr, the university’s director of external and government relations.

Knorr spoke to about two dozen people, including state Rep. Kurt Masser, Chamber of Commerce President Fred Gaffney and BU administrators and staff, gathered outside the new four-story, $35 million building near Centennial Hall on campus.

“I know this is just a small thing, but I feel like I’ve been dreaming of it for a year. So this is very exciting,” Knorr remarked.

The light-filled glass building features a large, central atrium and is home to administrative offices as well as student classrooms and art studios.

That’s an unusual mix for a campus building, noted BU President Bashar Hanna. He called the new facility a “collaboration.”

“Often, when universities build buildings, they design them either as academic buildings or as administrative buildings,” Hanna told the crowd. “What we’ve done here at Bloomsburg emphasizes that it’s one family.”

Just inside the main entrance, the new admission’s office welcomes incoming students in the same building as other student services, such as financial aid and the registrar. Those offices had been scattered throughout campus, making it harder for students to access those services, university spokesman Tom McGuire said.

History and art students who had crowded into the aging 114-year-old Old Science Hall for classes now have space and resources spread throughout the building’s four floors, McGuire added.

The university broke ground on the building in late 2018. It opened early this year.