Excitement at Alma College

Yes, we're bringing in the LARGEST CLASS EVER at 450 incoming students and counting (and yes, we do have room to house them). You probably already knew that. But I thought I'd take a moment to update you on some other changes to Alma's campus:

1. The Admissions staff has grown so much that we need more space, so we're taking over the entire Reid-Knox Building! Jerry Scoby and President Tracy's offices will remain here, but the Business Office is moving out in a couple of weeks so a construction crew can come in a reconfigure most of the building to accommodate additional office space and another small conference room. Along with this, we're getting all new matching furniture for our brand new offices! Construction has already begun: they're renovating our bathrooms and that means I'm displaced from my office so they can knock out one of my walls to expand the women's restroom. Therefore, I'm moving to the basement of the library until my new office space is ready, which will probably be in October.

So where is the Business Office going?

2. The Business Office, Registrar's Office, and Financial Aid Office are all moving to the basement of Saga and taking over the space previously used by the Center for Student Development. Crews gutted the area last month and are renovating it as I write. This makes it a "one-stop-shop" kind of thing down there.

So where is the Center going?

3. The Center is downsizing it's operations to include only personal counseling, and they will be moving to the Med Shed. On a related note, the Med Shed is now being run by the local hospital, Gratiot Medical, in hopes of improving service and streamlining services provided by the hospital.

So what about all that other stuff the Center did, like career placement, tutoring and learning disabilities?

4. Well, we all know the Center never did a fabulous job on things like career placement, but that's slated to improve with the addition of a new office called the Transitions Office. Headed by a woman very active in the Alma community (Ginna Holmes, if any of you worked with her through the Alma After-School Program or the Alma Community Center) and staffed with two other administrators yet-to-be-hired, the Transitions Office will improve career placement services and take over tutoring and learning disabilities services. This office will live in the basement of the library, where the International/Off-Campus Studies Office currently resides. Actually, the functions of that office will be absorbed by the Transitions Office to put some more structure and support around study abroad and internship programs.

There must be more!

5. Eventually, IT will move from first floor SAC to the basement of the library, in the places vacated by the Registrar and Financial Aid. That's not in the immediate plans; everything else is scheduled to be completed by the time school begins in the fall. Now, whether that will happen or not is anyone's guess, but I'm excited that it's actually beginning!