Growing Academics

Center for Academic Engagement

Click here for Live Video of the contruction site

Education should be hands-on. Collaborative. High-tech. And transparent.

That’s the vision behind the new Academic Engagement Center that will soon rise on the Mercyhurst campus. Groundbreaking is planned for June and completion is expected by fall 2012.

Masses of glass and windows will show students from some of the college’s signature programs – Intelligence Studies and Hospitality Management – as they work together in specially designed classroom spaces and laboratories equipped with the latest equipment to prepare them for the world they’ll enter after graduation.
The building will also be home to a pair of new initiatives that connect Mercyhurst with the wider community – the Evelyn Lincoln Institute for Ethics and Society and the Mercyhurst Center for Applied Politics (MCAP).
The four-story, 31,000-square-foot building will be set into the rolling hill north of Hammermill Library. A skywalk over East Main Drive will connect the two facilities.

The building had been discussed for years, but became reality after Pa. Gov. Ed Rendell in December infused $3.5 million in state funds into the project. Contributions to the Engage. Enrich. Envision. capital campaign and building reserves will cover the remainder of the estimated $9 million cost.

Architect Shelley Buehler of Erie’s Buehler and Associates designed the building. While details are still being tweaked, the general layout can be seen in the views on these pages. From the main entrance on the south side, visitors will enter a two-story open atrium that spans the building. During the day, it will be a student gathering area with a coffee kiosk, but the space can also be repurposed to host college functions. The banquet area can seat 160 guests, and the Hospitality Management Department will be in perfect position to cater events from its facilities a floor below.

Because of the natural slope where the building sits, even that lower level will boast a full wall of windows facing north. It will house state-of-the-art training kitchens that allow the head chef to demonstrate to an entire class.
The facility in which students will prepare and serve meals to the public will carry the name of the Marriott Corporation, an early donor.

Buehler took every opportunity to incorporate eco-friendly elements into her design and Green Team Chair Chris Magoc says the Academic Engagement Center will be the “greenest” building yet constructed on campus.
For example, most building components will be fabricated locally to cut trucking, and construction waste materials (from excess metal studs to drywall scraps) will be recycled.

The college’s solar panel array may be relocated to the building’s roof, and additional panels may be added. Part of the roof may also be a “green” or living roof, like the one installed last summer over Zurn Hall.

The many windows will allow faculty and students to maximize use of natural light, while highly energy-efficient lights will be equipped with occupancy controls to turn out lights in rooms that aren’t being used. Exterior lights will be shielded to cut light pollution.

Since the nearby library relies on the area’s geothermal wellfield, a high-performance heat recovery system is planned for this building.

Four senior Interior Design students who are also Sustainability Studies minors have worked with Buehler researching and planning potential green features of the building. Toni Novello is exploring landscaping issues, including retention of green space and the possible planting of rain gardens to allow temporary shallow ponding of rainwater run-off.

Three other students -- Katherine (Kerry) Tabar, Caroline Whitman and Brittany Wirges – are working on incorporating environmentally responsible materials and finishes into the building’s interior.

"Much like the education that will take place within its walls, the very possibility of this building has been collaborative from its conception,” said President Dr. Thomas J. Gamble. “Trustees, students, faculty, donors, elected officials and administrators have all made essential contributions to its realization. All those who will benefit from it owe a debt of gratitude to all those who made this happen."