Tuesday, Feb. 5, the Office of the President released a report on a Board of Trustees meeting held over the weekend from Friday, Feb. 1 through Saturday, Feb. 2 in Philadelphia, Pa. Within the report, the Office of the President noted that trustees, as well as senior staff members, met at the offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PWC, upon the invitation of the Board of Trustees’ Vice Chair, Ed Lovelidge, ’82.
The main topics of discussion for the Board of Trustees were the renewal of on-campus residential facilities, as well as the incorporation of more diversified strategic planning and social opportunities for students.
However, a significant portion of the meetings included residential renewal at the College over the next five years.
To start, the Board of Trustees approved a $5.5 million loan to renovate the Vera Hackman Apartments and their parking lots, the tennis courts and the existing softball field. The apartments will be renovated in two phases from 2019 to 2020.
Additionally, the loan will be used to provide more lighting on Wolf and Herr Fields, as well as improvements on pathways connecting to the Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-being. However, funding to update both of the fields and the pathways will also be provided by a $1 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Trustees and senior staff members also continued to review a potential partnership with the Zimmer Development Company of North Carolina to replace the existing Royer and Schlosser residence halls with four new buildings that would consist of 450 new rooms. If approved, this residential renewal will take place from 2020 through 2023.
Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Title IX Dr. Armenta Early-Hinton also led a discussion on how to continue to promote diversity throughout the College’s campus, and she worked exclusively with the Board of Trustees to create and advance a new strategic diversity plan for the College.
The Board of Trustees also approved the idea of incorporating a social lounge into the campus community.
This social lounge would consist of a weekly “pop-up space” dedicated to offering Etown students additional food, beverage and social opportunities, with the option for students of the legal drinking age to be served alcohol for reasonable consumption.
Jim Shreiner, ’73 announced that the College has raised over $59 million and that the College is close to reaching their new goal of $60 million for the Be More Inspired Campaign.
Additionally, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Dr. Betty Rider requested to begin developing clearer messaging that can be passed to prospective students and their families.
The Board of Trustees will reconvene for their spring meeting Friday, April 26.
