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September 8, 2009
MMC Welcomes Students to Transformed Learning Environment
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CONTACTS:
Lori Kupfer, Architect, (917) 696-5815, lori@lk-arch.com
Manuel L. Romero, Marymount Manhattan College, (212) 517-0451, mromero@mmm.edu
Bill Johnson, Halstead Communications, (212) 734-2190 x701, Johnson@halsteadpr.com
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The student lounge (third floor) includes flexible, private areas that can be used for meetings and gatherings, and features glass doors that open out to the Terrace.
| (New York, NY) – Marymount Manhattan College (MMC) is proud to announce the opening of The Commons, a 5,000 square foot dining facility and student lounge located at the heart of the 71st Street Campus.
This fall semester, Marymount Manhattan students, faculty and staff will experience the transformation that occurred over the summer break. Upon returning to campus, they will find the newly constructed Commons, the College’s two-tiered dining facility and student lounge.
The Commons adjoins the Lowerre Family Terrace, which opened in Fall 2008. These renovations have allowed the College to create nearly 20,000 square feet of contiguous student-centered space at the center of its campus. The Commons, located in the Main Building, offers a new space that fosters interaction among students, faculty and staff. The upper tier (fourth floor) provides a spacious food servery and a staircase that connect to the student lounge. The student lounge (third floor) includes flexible, private areas that can be used for meetings and gatherings, and features a glass canopy and vanishing glass wall system that opens out to the Terrace. The Lowerre Family Terrace links the College’s Main and Nugent Buildings providing students with access to the newly renovated Thomas J. Shanahan Library.
Advancing a strategic goal of the College, The Commons is one of the major facilities projects of This is the Day, the Campaign for Marymount Manhattan. Further, it allows the College to meet a number of goals established by the President’s Climate Commitment by incorporating energy efficient lighting and systems that will help reduce MMC’s carbon footprint.
On March 10, 2009, MMC’s Board of Trustees approved the implementation of the new construction, an important project in the 2006 Facilities Master Plan. President Judson R. Shaver, Ph.D. said The Commons is a key component to continuing to provide a quality liberal arts education to students.
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The fourth floor of The Commons provides a more spacious area for MMC students to grab a bite in the new servery. | | “The Commons beautifully addresses the most important facilities priority that emerged from an extensive, student-centered master planning process,” Dr. Shaver said. “When our students return to campus this fall, I believe they will find this a most welcome addition to our classrooms, labs and performance spaces.”
The College’s Main Building, located at 221 East 71st Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, was designed in 1929 by famous architect John Russell Pope for the Junior League. Since Marymount Manhattan College moved into the building, it has undergone a transformation that includes extensive mechanical, structural and architectural renovations to four floors of the building.
New York Architect Lori Kupfer led the team that designed The Commons. She compares the renovation project to Chinese checkers, wherein the College had to shift spaces within the confines of the building perimeter, not taking anything away but cleverly adding uses. Essentially without expanding the building’s square footage, Marymount Manhattan has carved out more than 7,000 square feet of multifunction space that did not exist before. Departments housed in the space were relocated to the 8th floor to make way for construction of the dramatic dining hall and lounge.
“The College has turned this property into a modern, urban higher education facility, and it was a very complicated process that required teamwork,” Kupfer said. “This is a huge improvement in the quality of life for the students and the entire College community.”
Guests from the College and the community have been invited to a reception in celebration of this milestone event on September 14. The event, which will feature remarks by President Judson R. Shaver, Ph.D., Board Chairman Louis A. Martarano, and Trustee and Campaign Chair Judith M. Carson ’03, will officially mark the opening of The Commons at Marymount Manhattan.
This is the Day, the Campaign for Marymount Manhattan, enhances our existing spaces to create a dynamic, comfortable environment for learning and growing, dramatically increases need-based student financial aid, and encourages unprecedented levels of faculty scholarship and research, and increases the number of full-time faculty.
In recognition of Marymount Manhattan’s successful fundraising efforts during the economic downturn, The Kresge Foundation recently granted an extension to meet its challenge grant. In order to receive the $1.5 million grant the College must garner gifts and pledges totaling $25 million by March 31, 2010. To date, the College has raised $21.9 million in gifts and pledges.
To learn more about This is the Day, the Campaign for Marymount Manhattan, visit the Web at www.mmm.edu/campaign or contact Jean Wilhelm, Campaign Director, at (212) 517-0460 / jwilhelm@mmm.edu.
Marymount Manhattan College is an urban, independent, liberal arts college. The mission of the College is to educate a socially and economically diverse population by fostering intellectual achievement and personal growth and by providing opportunities for career development.
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