Student Center Renovation Update: July 13, 2011

Another week has flown by, and construction continues in the Student Center. Demolition of the inside spaces will take most of the summer, but work is rapidly transforming the site. Walls have come down, floors are being torn up, and the organ pipes and stained glass window have been removed and held for safekeeping until workers are ready to reinstall them in the newly designed facility. For more info, go to www.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter/. Check in next week for another update!

Macon Book Shop moving on campus; expect great changes!

The shelves at the Barnes & Noble Macon Bookshop are looking rather bare:

That's because the shop at 2480 Rivermont Avenue is being cleared out to be replaced by a newer, better bookstore on campus.

This week, only a few books were left, being sold on clearance for $1 each. Randolph College branded apparel and other products are being moved to the new campus store.

The on-campus bookstore will come with many improvements, including a wider selection of merchandise for the students. Coral Carter, the bookstore manager, has been ordering lots of new fashions for men and women, as well as a wide variety of gifts.

These clothes and other Randolph College products will be moved to the new bookstore, and will be joined by lots of great new merchandise.

Be sure to check out all the new gear at the new bookstore early in the fall semester!

Randolph students, professor research Rivermont history

The community surrounding Randolph College is rich in history, and two students and a professor spent the summer documenting the stories of the people who have lived, worked, attended school, and worshipped in that neighborhood

The Rivermont Avenue area, built at the same time as Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, was designated as an official historic district in 2002, but a comprehensive history of the district has never been written, said Gerry Sherayko, a history professor and current president of the Friends of Rivermont Historical Society.

Callie Jones ’13, History Professor Gerry Sherayko, and Jane Campbell ’12 worked on writing the history of the Rivermont Historic District in Lynchburg during the Randolph College 2011 Summer Research Program.

In 2010, he worked with Nick Marshall ’11 and Kathleen Conti ’11 to start researching the Rivermont area’s history and take photographs of buildings along the avenue. This summer, he continued the work with Jane Campbell ’12 and Callie Jones ’13 for the Summer Research Program.

Their goal was to go deeper than a timeline and discover personal stories that reveal culture, Sherayko said. “It is not just the history of this street,” he said. “This is going to be an ongoing, interesting story about life in the south.”

Each building along Rivermont Avenue has a story. The history that Gerry Sherayko and his students are compiling will tell many of those stories.

Campbell and Jones spent the eight weeks of the Summer Research Program conducting interviews and perusing records. They interviewed several Rivermont Avenue residents, landowners, and former residents, and transcribed the interviews recorded last summer. The group also delved into land ownership and assessment records and used city directories to discover the occupations of those who lived in the area.

An unexpected interview arranged by Don Giles, a member of the Randolph College Board of Trustees, introduced them to Vincent Scully, a famous Yale architecture professor, who spends part of the year living in Lynchburg. They talked with Scully about the street’s architecture and how it reflects cultural history. Jones said that was helpful since she has an interest in architectural history.

Rivermont Avenue is rich in history and remains a major thoroughfare in Lynchburg.

The research conducted by Campbell and Jones will be paired with historic and new photographs of each building along Rivermont Avenue. The Design Group, a graphic design firm located on Rivermont Avenue, is working with Sherayko to create a website to host the information.

The history will be updated as time passes, Sherayko said.

“This will be something that’s very useful for people who live here,” he said.

Randolph student participates in presidential Twitter Town Hall

Patrick Glynn ’12 was one of 30 people chosen to attend the White House's first Twitter Town Hall and document it on Twitter.

Just before shaking hands with President Barack Obama, Patrick Glynn ’12 tapped on his iPhone 4 screen and sent this message to the world: “Is it rude to tweet in front of the President? I don't think that's in any book of manners yet...”

Glynn was one of 30 people selected to attend the first presidential town hall meeting operated through Twitter—the social media application that allows people to spread messages in “tweets” of up to 140 characters—on July 6. People from around the country submitted questions via Twitter. Obama answered the questions during a live broadcast while his staff condensed his responses into Twitter messages. Glynn and others who were present at the White House documented the event on their own Twitter accounts.

Glynn’s presence at the conference came unexpectedly. At the end of June, the White House announced that it would choose some of its Twitter followers to attend the event live. Glynn registered for the opportunity, although he thought it was a long shot.

“I didn’t actually think I would be picked to go, but I thought I would just try and see what would happen,” he said. “I wanted to go because I had always wanted to meet the president. He’s the first president I voted for.”

About 24 hours before the town hall meeting, Glynn learned he had made the cut. At 5 a.m. the next day, he began the six-hour drive to Washington, D.C. By 2 p.m., he was shaking hands with Obama.

Glynn appeared in one picture that The Huffington Post published about the event. Glynn is the person sitting closest to the television in this picture.

During the event, Obama addressed a question Glynn had asked on Twitter about what can be done to preserve collective bargaining rights. Glynn’s profile on Twitter received more than 100 mentions as people discussed his question and debated the merits of unions.

Glynn, a French and political science major from Havelock, N.C., has had a Twitter account under the name pmglynn for a few months. He believes social media will engage more young people in politics and change the way politicians campaign.

“The president can, in 140 characters, deliver a message to a demographic, and then that person who is on the other end reading it has this feeling that the president is talking directly to them on a level that they’re familiar with,” he said. “I think it’s going to change the way that you see politicians operate. They’re going to operate on a more personal level over media rather than in a larger speech giving arena.”

Randolph College $6 Million Student Center Renovation Underway

Construction is well underway on Randolph's $6 million Student Center renovation. The project, which was funded completely by five alumnae (Sadie "Puff" Hampson '41 Byrd and Alice Hilseweck Ball '61, Tom and Sally Maier Rowe '67, and two alumnae who wished to remain anonymous), began several weeks ago. Much of the summer's work will include demolition of the the main areas of the Student Center.



College officials are working hard to limit the impact of the renovation on students, faculty, and staff. A temporary wall was constructed at the entrance to the Student Center to maintain safety and limit the dust and noise created by the construction work.

Main Grounds, the College's coffee bar, will be moved temporarily into the Learning Resources Center. Spaces have been found around campus to accomodate other offices and social spaces that were in the current facility.

The renovation will totally transform the Student Center by adding exciting new spaces for student activities and stunning views of the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains in a 3 1/2 floor facility. The renovation includes treasured elements of Randolph's current architecture, including a set of "curlies," (spiral staircase), a newly designed Skeller, the vaulted ceiling beams, and the existing organ, organ pipes, and stained glass window.

Find out more about the renovation at www.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter/

Construction is expected to last 18 months. Keep checking out Randolph's website and blog for updates as we follow this exciting project!

Faculty and staff smoothie social

Randolph College faculty and staff came together Wednesday for a brief smoothie social in the dining hall. Here are some pictures!

Linda Ray scoops up fruit for the smoothie social in the dining hall. Tim Moss runs a blender to make smoothies for faculty and staff.

The smoothies tasted great and the social provided a good opportunity for faculty and staff to bond.

Randolph College President John Klein, right, enjoys smoothies with admissions staff members Ben Downs and Lisa Davies.

Lynchburg ranks in top 50 cities for business and careers

Wanda the WildCat celebrates Lynchburg's ranking in Forbes Magazine's Best Places For Business and Careers.

Randolph College’s hometown has done it again! The Lynchburg region landed in the top 50 of the Forbes 2011 Best Places for Business and Careers. That means the city’s cost of doing business, job growth, economic outlook, and educational attainment stacked up well in comparison with other cities throughout the United States.

The Region 2000 Partnership, which promotes economic development in the Lynchburg area, pointed out that Lynchburg was one of the smallest cities to make the top 50, a testament to the region's economic prowess.

Lynchburg received an overall ranking of 49 of the nation's 200 most populous regions. In Virginia, only the Washington, D.C., area had a better rank.

The Forbes article said colleges and universities play an important role in the most successful economies on the list, and Randolph College is proud to do its part. Our students and employees contribute to economic vibrancy by supporting local businesses, filling valuable internship positions, and even staying to work for local companies or starting their own businesses. We’re glad to call Lynchburg home!