Re-Introducing Ames Hall

Bright smiles and proud faces filled the newly renovated Ames Hall on Friday as the University officially re-opened the building in a ceremony held with administrators, members of the Board of Trustees, alumni and students at Ames' first floor sky box. The celebration for the completion of the $19 million renovation project on the Mount Vernon campus featured several speeches, tours of the building and a reception with samples of food from the building's new cafe.

The renovation of Ames Hall from a dining facility to an academic building began in November 2010 after the completion of the renovations to West Hall, which resulted in the campus dining hall located in Ames to be moved to West. The renovation process took just over a year and has resulted in a facility that is aiming to be a certified LEED-gold building. The construction included a new roof for the building and water fountains placed throughout the building designed specifically for filling water bottles.

Besides sustainability, the building boasts five floors filled with state-of-the-art class rooms, faculty offices for the University Writing program, six glassed study rooms which can be used by students on a first-come, first-served basis, and a cafe located inside the first floor entrance called Zebi's. The Mount Vernon division of the University Police Department is located on the bottom floor and there is a sky box on every level overlooking the softball field allowing for students to watch games from a great vantage point.

The University intends Zebi's Cafe to be a place where students can grab a quick bite to eat on their way on and off the Vern Express or in-between classes. The cafe serves breakfast sandwiches from 8 - 11 AM and then switches to a lunch menu that includes sandwiches, soups and salads. Coffee and pastries are available all day.

The addition of Zebi's means Pelham Commons Dinning Hall will no longer serve breakfast. Nancy Haaga, the Managing Director of Campus Support Services, says the reasoning is based on the numbers, since on average only five to seven students were buying from Pelham between 8-11 in the morning.

"Pelham was not convenient [for breakfast] or not what students were looking for," Haaga added, "Students were voting with their feet."

The University expects that the addition of another academic building and the additional presence of the full University Writing Program as well as the Honors Program will enhance the Vern.

"This [the addition of Ames] has shifted the center of gravity back onto the quad," Shelly Heller, Associate Provost for Mount Vernon, said.

Now, with Ames Hall open, Provost Steven Lerman said that "there is more than adequate classroom space on Mount Vernon."

As a result, the University has to decide what to do with some of the new empty space in Post Hall, the Vern's other academic building. Some options include adding more studio space for the interior design program or moving offices into the building that service students.

More is on the way for the Mount Vernon Campus academically. University administrators said today that they are set to launch a faculty fellows program next fall where professors who are on sabbatical will have the opportunity to spend their sabbatical on the Vern teaching an Honors class and working on their research.