The Campaign to Save Ball Hall

I haven’t mentioned the Division of Finance/Business’s new digs yet (the other permanent occupants of the ground floor). I really like what they’ve got going on at the opposite end of the hall. The director of student accounts and student accounts representatives share a space and each of the two representatives has a window into the hallway, where they service customers. Then, you enter through the door where the business office coordinator greets you and directs you to the offices within, which form a “U” shape around the coordinator’s space. It’s a great set-up, especially considering the business office coordinator used to be in an office with the human resources coordinator and vice president of finance and administration. Down the hall in another office was the budget director. The payroll coordinator was across the hall in an office that connected to the room that housed the director of student accounts and student accounts representatives. In separate offices within that suite (off of the Alumni Lounge) were the controller’s office and the accounts payable office. So, not only is the renovation bringing the various offices together in one building, but it’s making those offices more cohesive.

-Tanya

In case you’ve ever wondered what a hallway full of box springs would look like, wonder no more.

I didn’t mean to go all Extreme Home Makeover on you guys in the headline, but I have some cool photos to share. Since 7 a.m., various workers have been bringing furniture up to the fourth floor.

I’m sure you realize that standard practice is to finish your renovation before you lug in your new furniture, so yes, this means the fourth floor is done. I just talked to Jerry Hiller, the VP of finance and administration here, and he said that it will be ready for the students (hi, in case any of you are reading) to occupy when they return from spring break (do you miss your classes yet?).

In early January, I shared some photos of a neat room on the fourth floor that featured a cathedral ceiling. As was the original plan, the room has been divided into two rooms and the ceiling has been lowered; but the room still looks really impressive. Here’s a before and after shot:

As is standard practice when I go on a photographic shooting spree, more photos are available in The Flickr Album.

– Pete

In Pat’s March 16 “Ball Hall Memories” post, she talks about drying clothes on a rack next to the sink in the bedroom area of her third floor, Ball Hall room. “When we left that year there was a big mess under the tray we used to catch the drippings,” says Pat. “Oops!”

Pat’s post got me reflecting on the old Ball Hall and how, because it was old, we accepted its flaws and imperfections as part and parcel. I know for us down here in our permanent new space, we’ve spent a lot more time thinking about how we want to decorate than we ever did upstairs, in our old space. Basically, whatever “artwork” covered up the walls in our old space would suffice. Down here, however, we are focused on the place looking neat, tidy, and professional. Upstairs, things got kind of sloppy and I think that’s because the walls, floors, and ceilings surrounding our stuff was less than appealing. I mean, walls can only be painted so many times and that shag carpet had certainly seen better days — but there weren’t enough funds available to replace it. And, we didn’t have storage upstairs; so, extra Keuka magazines would often spill into our waiting area. Down here we have a storage closet and it is certainly being utilized. We’re really taking pride in our new space, and that’s how it should be. I hope that the students are taking the same kind of pride and care in their new rooms.

-Tanya

Earlier today, one of my co-workers asked me about the Ball Hall bookmarks I offered to give away last week; he wanted to know how many people had requested one. In truth, I had about a dozen requests and that pleases me. Sure, it may not seem like a lot—but we were giving away free bookmarks, not briefcases full of Ben Franklins.

Our conversation reminded me of something I wanted to blog about last week: one of the other goals of The Campaign to Save Ball Hall. It’s no secret that we’re trying to raise $10 million, but one of the lesser-known objectives of the campaign is that we’re trying to encourage alumni to reconnect with Keuka College and reconnect with each other. While Ball Hall bookmarks are great ’small tokens’ for remembrance, I think we can all agree that bookmarks aren’t really going to help our alumni stay connected with one another. (By the way, if you do want a Ball Hall bookmark, drop me an e-mail with your address. It’s a little bit past Monday at noon, but, eh, we can send some out on-demand.)

For the past week or so, I’ve been working with Kathy Waye, Cass Crovetti and Terry Fingar in the Office of Alumni and Family Relations to revamp the alumni Web site. We’ve been trying to figure out exactly what type content, features and interactive tools we want to incorporate into the new alumni site that will help our alumni reconnect and stay connected.

So here’s my question for you alumni out there: How can we help you stay connected to your classmates? How can we help you stay connected to your alma mater? What types of things would you like to see on the alumni Web site?

I can’t promise that every suggestion will be implemented, but I can promise that we’ll take each suggestion into consideration. If you have any suggestions you’d like to share, please shoot me an e-mail or, preferably, leave them in this entry’s “comments” section. Another question I had, mostly due to curiosity, is if any of our alumni or family members are active bloggers. If you are an active (or even an occasional) blogger and wouldn’t mind sharing the link with me, I’d love to add you to my evening “blog jog.”

And speaking of alumni connecting with each other, Boston was home to the last of the in-person campaign rallies on Sunday. If you weren’t able to attend any of the rallies—don’t fret; we’re working on putting together a virtual rally right here in On the Ball. President Burke and Carolanne Marquis were kind enough to put together an exclusive presentation for the virtual rally, and we’ll be cooking up some new ways to highlight Ball Hall memories and get more stuff (like the virtual tour) that will make you “oooh” and “aaahhh.”

—Pete

A number of “Ball Hall Memories” have been shared about the Buffet. Terry Langdon says when she arrived on campus in 1971 the Buffet was located across from the Keuka Park Post Office. I bet that the Buffet used to be in the building where our facilities office is now housed. She also says that the buffet moved to the “new” Dahlstrom Student Center while she was here. It sounds like the Buffet might have been what we now call the Terrace Café. The Terrace is open some hours when the cafeteria is not. It has a grill and fryer for all of those goodies students love, and a deck outside that overlooks the lake. The Terrace is also where Subway is located. You can learn more about the Terrace at http://www.keuka.edu/studentLife/Dining/terrace.html.

Carolyn Murray Daniels’ post about the original location of the Buffet got me wondering where it could have been. My co-worker, Christen Smith, who is going on her 10^th year at the College, told me about a “break” room in the basement that Ball Hall employees would frequent. She says that it had hardwood floors, but no sink or anything that resembled a kitchen. She also says Ball Hall basement was once home to the Copy Center, now located in Dahlstrom, not far from the Terrace. The only other rooms I know about that were down here immediately before the remodel were used as storage units by the various offices located on the first floor, the Office of Communications included. They certainly didn’t look like places where food would have been served, but the years had taken a toll, I’m sure.

-Tanya

The portico in front of Ball is all gone. The building looks really bizarre without the cement pillars (which executive vice president Carolanne Marquis just mentioned to me were only there for about 50 years) and the boarded-up doors.

However, I’m of the persuasion that the new entry will be far more swank:

(See a video of the new entryway here)

If you care to opine, click the comments link near the top of this entry.

– Pete

PS: New photos have been added to the Flickr gallery, including a few that are courtesy of Kevin Reilly, Ball Hall’s project manager.

No, the forklift operator wasn’t actually swinging the broken piece of pillar over the parking lot; it just looks that way.

Needless to say, the pillars have started coming down. They removed one earlier this afternoon, and the rest are scheduled to come down tomorrow, according to one of the contractors I was talking with outside.

Check in for some new photos every now and then.

– Pete

If there’s one thing on campus you can’t miss today, it’s the loud jackhammering and sawing coming from the front of Ball. The concrete pillars that used to guard the entry to the gem of the campus are soon to be retired, as we need to make room for a new, ‘airlock-style’ entryway.

But according to Jerry Hiller, the College’s vice president for administration, we’re not getting rid of the pillars completely. He mentioned earlier that we’ll be turning some of the pillars into small park-style benches.

In other news, today is the first official day of The Campaign to Save Ball Hall’s class competitions. Tanya, who is a Keuka alumna, will be talking more about the competition this week, and all alumni should be receiving something from their class leaders relatively soon. So stay tuned.

Also, the free bookmarks will be in the mail shortly

– Pete

It’s such a lovely day here; the sun is finally shining and it’s not snowing. Also, many of our alumni are on campus for the Center for Experiential Learning’s Backpack to Briefcase event. In honor of it being an awesome day, we’re going to give some stuff away.

No. We’re not pulling an Oprah and giving away free wheels. Instead, we’re going to give away some cool The Campaign to Save Ball Hall bookmarks. Said lovely bookmarks were created by our very own Christen Smith, associate director of communications. The bookmark is laminated, in full color, and sports a nifty photo of Ball Hall on the front. It’s the perfect tool for, say, marking the page you last read in your book. You could possibly also use it to make toast, though I’m not quite sure how you’d go about doing that.

Anyway–if you want one of these bookmarks, drop an e-mail to webmaster@mail.keuka.edu by Monday, March 12 at noon. Please be sure to include your name and mailing address so we know where to send it. If you’re on campus, let me know the department you work in or your D-box number.

– Pete

Tags: free, bookmark, books, keuka, college, keuka college, ball hall