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MOMENTUM
A Web Letter from the Office of the Provost - October 2022
Classroom Master Plan and Libraries Master Plan to relocate books and create more learning/study spaces

By Mary Jane Chew

Classroom Master Plan and Libraries Master Plan to relocate books and create more learning/study spaces

Earlier this month, the Purdue Board of Trustees approved an initial Classroom Master Plan recommendation, which includes an $8.4 million proposal to renovate 92 existing classrooms over four years.

Jay Akridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity, said the renovation would impact 35% of all classrooms at the West Lafayette campus and will support continued student success.

“This investment, the first in support of the recently completed Classroom Master Plan, is aimed at enhancing our teaching spaces to better support active and experiential learning, and fostering even more interaction between Purdue instructors and students,” Akridge said.

Additional recommendations stemming from the Master Classroom Plan call for:

  • $5 million to be set aside for future, centrally scheduled classroom construction/remodel projects.
  • A study, projected to cost $500,000 to assess additional classroom capacity to align with expected demand for innovative learning spaces. 
  • The proposed Nursing Pharmacy Education Building (eight new classrooms) to be integrated into the plan’s findings and recommendations.

The Classroom Master Plan also includes a $10 million renovation for transforming libraries facilities into modern student study spaces.

The libraries renovation project will include finish updates and new furniture to create student study space in the core of campus. Additionally, preparation work will be completed at 2550 Northwestern Ave., a 48,600-square-foot facility where shelving will be installed to create a book repository.

The current plan calls for many of the books in the HSSE and Mathematical Science libraries, and all collections currently stored in the Hicks Repository, and the Lynn Hall Repository, to be relocated to 2550 Northwestern Ave. Preparation work at the new repository will begin this fall with the move completed by January of 2024.  

“The new repository will provide safe, secure, and better environmental conditions for the materials currently stored in the Hicks and Lynn repositories and free up valuable core campus space for additional student study space in the two libraries,” said Beth McNeil, dean of Libraries and the Esther Ellis Norton Professor of Library Science. “Twice-a-day delivery to campus will be available for requested materials from 2550 Northwestern Ave. We are grateful to the Board of Trustees for approving this forward-looking project and to campus leadership for their support.”

Learn more about all campus renovations recently approved by the Board of Trustees.