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Kinsley Alley

The common spaces and suites of Irwin Hall were renovated over the summer, receiving new carpet, paint, and furniture.

This summer, while many students and faculty enjoyed their summers away from campus, a major renovation project was underway at Irwin Hall. Completed in just three weeks, the renovation included painting and carpeting rooms, converting lighting to LED and removing obsolete speakers and cabling. 

Associate Vice President of Capital Planning, Facilities and Emergency Management, Scott George, played a large role in overseeing the renovation of the residence hall. 

“This project was pretty hands on with a variety of staff working to complete things. My primary role was to manage staff, contractors and resources, but additionally, I helped with labor on the project,” George said. 

While everyone that played a part in the Irwin renovation had the common goal of completing the project before students returned to campus, some bumps in the road provided an extra challenge. 

“Challenges [to completing the renovation on time] included being able to get carpet, finding contractors to assist and having a short time frame to make the improvements,” George said. 

Though the bulk of the renovations are finished, the renovation of resident bathrooms will be a continuous project throughout the semester. Bathroom improvements will include new paint and new flooring for all rooms, as well as repairing shower caulking and door thresholds as needed. 

Nick Goodman, Director of Residence Life, explained that bathrooms will be renovated individually in order to cause the least amount of disruption possible while still efficiently completing the improvements. 

“Students that live in Irwin will be getting a SignUpGenius link sometime in the next month or so [to sign up for a time] for their bathrooms to be finished,” Goodman said. “They just have to agree to be out of their bathrooms for the day and then they’ll come back home that night to a completely refinished bathroom.”

George corroborated that the goal is to work with students to make the remainder of the renovation process go smoothly. 

“We will schedule it to minimize disruption and work with schedules.  Obviously the easier it is to schedule, the quicker it will be to get done,” George said. 

Irwin residents do not anticipate the renovation process to cause any apparent disruptions. “I think it will go smoothly. We don’t have official information yet but it shouldn’t cause any problems,” said Freshman Irwin resident Anessa Parks.

While the focus of renovations has been on Irwin, major Gessner Hall renovations will not be far behind.

George explained that Irwin was selected to be renovated first because it was the residence hall that had gone the longest without improvements and “needed refreshing.”

Gessner Hall will follow suit next summer, hopefully with fewer challenges and a longer timeline. 

“Gessner work will happen over the summer in 2022.  We will take [Gessner] offline from summer camp use so we can make the improvements without running up to the end of the summer before everyone moves back,” George said.