Emory & Henry College is set to begin construction next spring on a new dormitory, the latest project in the college’s major building program of the last four years.
Including the soon-to-be-built Hickory Hall, the college has invested $30 million to date in a plan that will include additional buildings in the future.
The $7.5 million dormitory project announced Wednesday includes $5 million for the building and $2.5 million for parking and relocation of an art building on the site, which is near the Martin-Brock Student Center.
The four-story building, which will house 117 students, is the second of three planned dormitories after Elm Hall, which was built last year. The three will form a quad with the student center.
“We’re trying to grow slow but sure,” said Dirk Moore, spokesman for the college, who said the small liberal arts college, which has about 1,000 students, is looking to boost its enrollment to 1,200 in the next five to seven years.
“These residence halls are designed to accommodate community within them, and this quad design that we’re using is to create a sense of community among the students within that quad,” Moore said of the new dormitories. “That’s sort of the vision of these buildings and the residential life that we hope they create.”
With new and changing programs, Moore said “a certain critical mass” of students is needed to support them – and enrollment is also rising with Emory & Henry’s reputation.
“We had 2 percent increase in enrollment this fall, and that was to a traditional student population during a time when the economy isn’t so good and the students aren’t necessarily encouraged … to look at private institutions because of the misperceptions of it being too expensive,” Moore said. “If we’re having that kind of growth in times like this, it’s reasonable to predict that our growth will continue and we’re going to need good quality residential space.”
The building will be the fourth on campus aiming for LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certification as a green building.
“I think this is very exciting for the college, especially on the 175th anniversary, to be seeing such a dramatic change in its campus complexion, and it’s a necessary change and I think it’s also exciting,” Moore said. “It’s also very much in line with the growing reputation of this institution.”
He said the awards and honors the college has received, building improvements and growth in enrollment can work together to help the college “spiral upward.”
dmccown@bristolnews.com
(276) 791-0701
YOU SHOULD KNOW
Emory & Henry College’s building program of the last four years:
- Byars Hall addition: $7 million
- Wiley Hall renovations: $3 million
- Stadium renovations and new field house: $6.5 million
- Elm Hall construction: $5.5 million
- Hickory Hall construction: $7.5 million
- Alumni Plaza construction: $500,000
- Total completed and in progress: $30 million
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