Michael Patterson, director of Student Activities and Union Services (left), and Naomi Voight, keyboard specialist, in the department's new offices in the Student Union.

The Student Union’s Purple Lounge is no more.

In mid-June, the offices of Student Activities and Union Services and the Disability Resource Center relocated to newly renovated spaces. The offices were permanently moved to make way for the building’s 11,000-square-foot addition. The first, second and third floors on the north side of the building are currently undergoing demolition in anticipation of the erection of the new Student Union addition.

The Office of Student Activities and Union Services is now in room 211. All telephone extensions remain the same.

“We’re the same friendly folks,” said Michael Patterson, director of Student Activities and Union Services. “We’re just on the opposite side of the building now.”

The Student Activities and Union Services suite has an open reception area where Naomi Voight and student employees work, as well as four private offices and a storage room.

“Our new reception area is definitely more conducive to students,” said Patterson. “It is much more accommodating for student traffic.”

The Multi-Purpose Room in the Student Union was closed down at the end of the spring semester and into the summer. Patterson said the space will be fully functional by the fall. He advised those thinking of planning an event there to keep in mind the construction noise.

The space once known as the Purple Lounge in January 2009.

The new Disability Resource Center is adjacent to the Student Activities offices. The center has a reception area and three new offices. All telephone extensions for the center and its staff will remain the same.

Meanwhile, a temporary information desk has been set up in the second floor hallway outside of the new offices. The desk will be staffed, but some services – such as Trailways bus tickets – are being offered in the Student Activities office.

Both offices will be hosting open houses in the fall.

Dawn McCaw (center), assistant director of the Career Resource Center, works with a group of students in the center’s new conference room, which comes complete with Internet connection and a projection screen. Later this summer, a digital signage system will be installed outside the center to advertise programs, events and resources. The center has collaborated with Instructional Media Services on both projects.

The Career Resource Center staff has seen a sharp increase in student drop-in visits since moving to the Humanities Building in January.

Tonda Highley, associate dean of student advising and director of the Career Resource Center, attributes the more than 57 percent increase to the new visibility of the center on the academic side of campus. Highley said students pass the new center in Humanities room 105 every day and they are more apt to stop in to speak with a counselor, use the center’s computers or practice their interviewing techniques.

“We are so enthusiastic about being among the students and faculty,” said Highley.

Visits to the new offices have not been limited to students. According to Highley, faculty members often stop in to request information for students or develop fieldwork opportunities for their classes. Also, the center is now included as a “hot spot” on the Admission Department’s campus tours.

“We all feel such a positive sense when we come in here,” Highley said of her staff’s new space with its green walls, windowed walls and increased space.

The center’s move from the seventh floor of the Haggerty Administration Building (which is now home to the Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach) coincided with a shift in the center’s mission. While helping students obtain internships and secure employment after graduation has always been a part of the staff’s work, these elements are now the driving force of their efforts.

The Auxiliary Support staff will be housed in Student Union Building Room 100 during construction on the building’s addition, set to begin later this fall. Photo by Lee Conell

In preparation for construction of the Student Union Building addition, the Auxiliary Support offices have moved into a new space in room 100 of the Student Union Building.

The department’s previous location in the Haggerty Administration Building basement will be inaccessible to the public during the construction. The new office is set up in a divided portion of the room, leaving the common area free for dining and events.

Christine Waldo-Klinger, director of Auxiliary Support, said the new location made sense for the office, which manages ID cards, meal plans and other facets of conference services.

“Having our location near the eateries that students and faculty frequent heightens our visibility,” she said.

In addition to housing the Auxiliary support staff, the space now includes the office of the campus’s catering coordinator, Inez Elkins.

For more information about the office’s services, contact x3034 or visit www.newpaltz.edu/cas/id.html.                                                              – Lee Conell