Bricks-and-mortar makeover gives Norwich a boost
Military college gets a boost from new buildings
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By David Delcore Staff Writer - Published: September 17, 2006
NORTHFIELD – The bricks-and-mortar era is still in full swing at Norwich University, and this weekend's homecoming festivities gave alumni a glimpse of what the future has in store for the nation's oldest private military college.
By all accounts, they liked what they saw.
Zack Papadakis stroked the granite wall of a newly constructed museum, while Steve Sabol and Jason McLean eagerly listened to plans for the state-of-the-art campus center that is under construction nearby.
Although the three graduated only a decade ago, Sabol, McLean and Papadakis agreed that since then the university has undergone an extreme makeover.
"It has changed a lot," Sabol said, standing in the octagonal, granite-and-glass foyer of the soon-to-be-dedicated Sullivan Museum and History Center.
"It's a nice upgrade," he added. "This is a place that we'd actually like to go."
McLean agreed.
"We missed out," he said.
They should talk to Howard Bacon.
When Bacon graduated from Norwich in 1944 the cadets all still rode horses, and Harmon Hall – the brick building that has been partially demolished and completely gutted to make room for the new Wise Campus Center – hadn't even been built yet.
Bacon, 85, of Laconia, N.H., is a homecoming regular at Norwich and is amazed at how much the campus changes from one year to the next.
Bacon exclaimed "it's beautiful," as he glanced around the finished shell of the museum that will feature exhibits that tell the Norwich story – including the chapter about cadets who were required to ride horses as part of their military training.
"Those were the cavalry days," recalled Bacon, who left Norwich and its horses behind when he graduated and went to war.
NU President Richard Schneider said the museum is part of the university's ongoing effort to increase enrollment by improving its infrastructure.
"I want every 16-year-old in America to come through this building so they can have a chance to understand who we are and what we do here," Schneider said.
"It's also a chance to brag," he said, explaining seven Norwich graduates have been awarded the Medal of Honor and many others have gone on to distinguished careers in business, public service and the military.
Schneider said the museum with its cupola and copper roof is the first phase of the university's latest and largest capital campaign.
Dubbed "Norwich Forever!" the $55 million fund-raiser will finance the first three projects of the university's master plan. Alumni have already pledged or donated in excess of $43 million, Schneider said.
With the museum nearly complete – a dedication ceremony is set for Oct. 20 and the facility will open to the public on Nov. 1 – Schneider said finishing the Wise Campus Center before students return next fall is a priority.
"Right now it looks like a smart bomb went off in the middle of our campus," he joked, referring to the fenced-in, 10-acre construction zone where the earsplitting sound of jackhammers and the incessant beeping of bucketloaders, backhoes and other heavy equipment greeted visiting alumni.
When the work is finished, Schneider says, Norwich students, who have been dining and collecting their mail in the basement of the engineering, science and math complex, will have a modern facility in which to spend their spare time. The student center will feature fireplaces on all three floors, an indoor garden that will be accessible during the winter, a cappuccino bar, a "21 Club" for students old enough to drink, a big-screen television, modern dining facilities, and wireless Internet access throughout.
"It is going to be a showplace," Schneider predicted.
David Magida, chief administrative officer at Norwich, agreed.
"It's going to be the social hub of the university … a place to see and be seen," he said, explaining that one wall of the complex will be made completely of glass.
The project also involves some exterior improvements, including plans for an outdoor fireplace and an area that will accommodate a portable ice rink in the winter and serve as recreation space the rest of the year.
"We've tried to respond to what the students said they'd like to see," Magida said.
According to Magida, local contractors are just wrapping up the demolition phase and should begin erecting structural steel later this month. By winter, he said, the new building should be largely enclosed allowing for crews to work through the winter on the interior.
"This university has never had so much construction work in one phase or another," Magida said. "It's a physical manifestation of the growth that Norwich University has been experiencing."
The next project will be a building that will connect Kreitzberg Arena and Andrews Hall, home to the university's physical education department, Schneider said. And trustees are poised to borrow an additional $45 million to finance the construction of new dorms so that the university can increase the student body from 1,500 to 2,000 by its 200th anniversary in 2019.
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