Vol. 38, No. 18

2-18-2004
By: Randy Gammage

Newark campus plans Warner Center to keep pace with growth

A new Warner Library and Student Center expected to open in 2007 will help maintain Ohio State Newark’s momentum as it shifts from a two-year commuter campus to a more traditional residential campus.

The facility will consolidate student services now scattered across campus, provide programming space for student organizations and activities, and replace an antiquated dining hall with an attractive food court. It also will more than double existing library space.

“For many of our students, this will be their collegiate experience,” said John Berry, director of student affairs at Ohio State Newark. “They are looking for activities to be engaged in outside of the classroom. We are confident the Warner Center will provide the environment to facilitate those activities.”

As enrollment has grown to 2,200 students — 180 of them living on the Newark campus in university-owned housing — so has the demand for student services.

“Over the past five years we have doubled our offerings, in terms of social programs, student activities and counseling services, but we have run out of space,” Berry said.

OSU Newark now has 38 student organizations that must compete with diners and social events for space in Hopewell Hall, which seats about 250 students. It has served as the “de facto” student union since 1978, Berry said, combining the campus dining hall, study lounge and the only significant programming space on campus.

A student center in the new facility will provide discernible, discreet space — currently unavailable — versatile enough to accommodate anything from counseling to comedy acts, he said. A learning center will consolidate disability services, a learning assistance center, and writing, math and computer labs under one roof.

“Basically, students will have one-stop shopping for all their academic needs,” Berry said.

Funding for the $18 million facility has already been secured through gifts from the John and Christine Warner family totaling$14 million, and state capital and Newark campus development fund money.

In two to three months, OSU Newark will be seeking approval for the project from the university’s Board of Trustees. Architects will then be hired to begin the formal design of the building, with construction expected to begin in 2005, said Brian Boehmer, campus architect and project manager at Newark.

“This is a very, very unique concept,” Boehmer said. “The idea of a food court connected with the student center in the same facility as the library will present a whole wealth of opportunities.”

The 81,200-square foot Warner Center will be about 10,000 square feet larger than the John Gilbert Reese Center, the high-tech learning and conference facility that opened in October 2003. The three-story structure will house 22,000 square feet of library space, including study rooms, computer and office areas, a fireside room and a 24-hour room to allow round-the-clock access for students. Features also will include space for special collections and exhibits, a video and DVD collection, a copy center and a map room.

Housed in Founders Hall, the current library has not been upgraded since 1975, Boehmer said, and is about half the size of those at the other regional campuses.

To be located just north of the Reese Center and next to student housing and a large pond, he said the Warner Center will create an inviting gateway to campus with its stately appearance.

“We want this to be the one building on campus that has a front yard, rather than a parking lot,” Boehmer said, referring to a traditional campus courtyard being planned. “It will be the heart and hearth of campus.”

Once the Warner Center is completed, he said the current dining hall will be remodeled to offer expanded space for the allied health and nursing programs. The library will house administrative and faculty offices, classrooms and a conference room.

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