Foundation Hall, Wagner College's newest residence, opened in January 2010.
Over the past decade, Wagner College has undergone a transformation from a majority commuter school to a primarily residential campus. Today, about 75 percent of today's undergraduates live on campus in one of four residence halls — including, since January 2010, Foundation Hall.
This sea change in the campus residency profile accompanied the College's adoption of a new curriculum, the Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts. Its last stage is the Senior Program, in which students cap off their Wagner education with a special course in their major, an internship or other type of fieldwork, and an independent project.
Both of these factors came together in the creation of Foundation Hall, which opened in January. It is the first new residence facility to be constructed on campus in more than 40 years, adding space for nearly 200 students; and it was designed specifically for seniors, to augment the Senior Program and prepare them for the transition to life after Wagner.
Here are some scenes from Foundation Hall's first semester of use, as anxious seniors prepared for their next steps in life.
The Suite Spot: Foundation Hall's rooms are arranged in suites, with two bedrooms sharing one bathroom and a kitchenette. Pictured here is one of the six Seahawk Suites in the building, which have an expanded living area. Seniors Alyssa Kennedy, Alayna Butryn, and Lisa Krawciw shared this suite with their pet fish Montego.Room With a View: Large lounges with floor-to-ceiling windows anchor the ends of each floor. These spaces attract students like Christian Carey '12, a philosophy and economics double major who doesn't live in Foundation but likes to study here.Connectivity: Sociology major Stefen Gage '11 spends a lot of time in this study lounge, one of three in the building. "This is the best part of Foundation," he says. He got used to studying here early on, before wireless Internet access was set up in his room. Wireless Internet is now available throughout the building.Welcome to Foundation: Paula Chamberlain '12 is one of the front-door desk attendants for Foundation Hall. This building has new security features: Besides using their ID cards to open the front door, students also swipe their cards at a turnstile after entering the building. The turnstile allows only one person at a time to enter. A photo of the card holder then appears on a computer monitor at the front desk.Ready for the Real World: In the Manzulli Board Room on the first floor of Foundation Hall, seniors Sarah Bullock, Ben Serbiak, and Alison Magistrali attend a workshop on negotiating job offers. This is one in a series of programs designed to help seniors with their transition to post-graduate life, offered through a collaboration of the offices of residential education, career development, and alumni affairs and the Student Government Association.Squeaky Clean: Lauren Raynor '11 uses one of the laundry rooms located on each floor of Foundation Hall.Brain Food: Daniel Gonzalez serves senior theatre majors Jessica Pucek and Jason Garrison at the Starbucks Cafe, another new feature in this residence hall. The top-selling drinks, Gonzalez says, are hot chocolate and caramel macchiato.
For more than three decades, Wagner College students researched papers and studied for finals in a library shoehorned into the attic of the Admin Building.
