After the news of plans to renovate Joseph Hall for student residency broke in recent weeks, plans are already in the works for construction and renovation. Saint Anselm’s Physical Plant is aware of the construction plan and timeline to get the building ready for residential use in the fall. Faculty and staff whose offices are currently held in Joseph Hall are also getting ready to depart the building and its academic use.
Just a few weeks ago, on Feb. 13, Dr. Susan Gabert, Vice President for Student Development & Mission and Dean of Students, issued a campus-wide email addressing the addition of Joseph Hall for student housing beginning in the fall semester of 2025.
For more adequate housing in only a few short months, construction projects must commence soon in order to meet the deadline for when students return to campus in the fall. Matthew Proulx, Project Manager of Physical Plant at Saint Anselm said that “construction will begin following commencement in May.” The end of this semester will see quick work at getting Joseph’s interior ready for students, and “completion is scheduled for August prior to students’ arrival for next school year,” Proulx said.
“The plan for construction involves converting the current building into a residence hall,” Proulx said, and “while there will be no changes to the building’s exterior, we will have to alter the existing layout by adding bathrooms with showers to each floor.”
Necessities for a residential building include commodities like bathrooms with showers, but the building also requires “a Resident Director apartment, a laundry room, and a lounge and kitchen area,” Proulx said, so those things will also be added to the building’s interior during the construction process. As for dorms, “the existing office spaces will convert to dorms quite easily and require little to no modifications,” Proulx said.
The addition of Joseph Hall as housing is aimed to combat the demographic cliff that is expected to hit Saint Anselm and other colleges alike within the next few years. If the demographic cliff does find itself impacting the college, the need for extra housing space, such as Joseph Hall, may not find itself to be necessary.
“One of the reasons we selected Joseph Hall was our ability to revert it back to a faculty space pretty easily should the demographic cliff negatively impact the college,” Proulx said. Should this become the college’s reality, “the current layout allows for quick and relatively simple conversion between dorm and office/seminar space. The biggest change to the building will be the bathrooms on the upper floors. We would be able to convert back to office space by changing out furniture,” Proulx said.
Major concerns remain in circulation regarding Joseph Hall’s planned renovations, one of which is the concern of named rooms within the building. All over campus, rooms and buildings are named after donors, and changing the rooms with names could have negative impacts. To combat the possible issues of this change, “for the majority of the named spaces, their name will carry to the new location of the room on campus. When possible, we are reaching out to the donors and letting them know about this change,” Proulx said.
Another major concern with construction in Joseph regards the Bloomberg Finance Lab, which is used “as part of class assignments to receive up-to-the-minute information on the world financial markets in a real-world trading environment. Many students use it to earn certifications in Bloomberg programs and find job opportunities.” (anselm.edu) Currently, “the Bloomberg Lab will be relocated to somewhere on campus,” Proulx said, but “we are still determining the best location and design for this unique space.”
Many faculty in the Department of Economics and Business as well as the Department of History have voiced concerns about the change from faculty offices, classrooms, and the Bloomberg Lab to a residence hall.
Though many faculty members do have concerns, only a select few came forward with their opinions. Other faculty members, remaining anonymous, found that since they are not tenured faculty members, it would be best to keep their opinions to themselves and not have it found in print.
One faculty member who came forward is Dr. Jennifer Kelber, Department Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Business. Kelber mentioned that faculty members were informed about the change to Joseph in an email on Jan. 30, and “it was quite unexpected,” Kelber said.
Concerns about the change and relocation vary for Kelber, and “I am content in my office, so of course I don’t want to move, but I am less concerned about that than I am about the changes to the academic space. At this stage I believe our offices will be moved to Gadbois, but nothing has been confirmed,” Kelber said.
Inevitably, concerns regarding the Bloomberg Lab are of great importance for faculty in Joseph. “The Bloomberg Lab is crucially important to both the finance major and to the Economics and Business Department as a whole. We teach the majority of our finance classes in the lab and we do our best to incorporate the technology into our classes. This allows us to bring the textbook material to life by showing students the real-world application of the material. I am hopeful that the administration will work with us to reestablish the lab in a new location,” Kelber said.
“I know that residential living space is incredibly important, so I am certainly sympathetic to the need. However, I do wish that alternate housing plans had been more seriously considered,” Kelber said, and “I am concerned that there may be negative unintended consequences of this decision.”
Associate Professor of Economics and Business, Kelly Lalonde, also voiced concerns about Joseph’s renovations and the department’s relocation. Regarding the move, Lalonde said “I am not opposed to moving as long as I have space to meet with students.” The details of the faculty office relocation is still up in the air, so “I am concerned about the impression that an outdated office will give current and prospective students,” Lalonde said.
Similarly to Prof. Kelber, Prof. Lalonde voiced commentary on the sudden and unexpected decision to move faculty out of Joseph in order to make it a residential space. “We found out about the move on January 30 in an email. I did not know that the move was even being considered. I respect that this is an administrative decision, but would have appreciated the opportunity to voice concerns before the decision was made,” Lalonde said.
“I understand that this is an administrative decision, however, I think other alternatives would have been brought to light if the administration had looked for feedback from the other stakeholders at the college. For example, a number of faculty have suggested we incentivize commuting as a short-term fix. I understand a decision had to be made, but I honestly think we should have found another way,” Lalonde said.
Ultimately, Lalonde’s major concern also regards the Bloomberg Lab and the uncertainty about where it will be relocated. The Bloomberg Lab “is a big concern for the Economics and Business Department. This is the showcase room for our Finance courses. We have not been given any information about how or where it will be relocated. My assumption is that it will be moved to Gadbois. If it is moved to Gadbois my concern is the condition of the building and the impact it will have on students and prospective students,” Lalonde said.
Though plans are in the works to hit the ground running on Joseph’s construction, a lot of questions still linger, leaving staff, faculty, and students to question what their next moves are and where they will end up.