Posted Oct. 29 - Late this summer, my office moved from the Administration Building to Funderburg Library. I suspect that the President’s Office had been in the same location for many, many years and the move felt sacrilegious to some. I, though, love our new digs.
It feels like we are in the heart of campus. Through my office window I can see and hear students going to and from classes in both the Academic Center and Science Center. I see them go by on skateboards and bicycles. When I walk out the front door, I find students and community members playing Ultimate Frisbee or the Student Activities Council setting up for some weekend event on the mall.
My favorite thing, though, is connecting with students in the library. After we moved faculty offices and classrooms to the Academic Center half a decade ago, we stopped seeing students in the Ad Building on a regular basis. I see them every day in the library. Yes, our students use the library!
Some, I think, live here. They seem to be here when I arrive and here when I leave. Because you can bring food and drink into the library now – again, yes! – they can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner while they study. Many sit in the same chair, at the same computer terminal or at the same table every day. They study in small groups surrounded by movable white boards and I can tell when one is helping another with a challenging topic. We have a lively, living library at Manchester.
One student told me it is his favorite place on campus. It is fast becoming mine, too.