News
New McCracken Hall Officially Opens
By: Susan Tebben
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The home for the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education on Ohio University’s campus was officially reopened today.
A ceremony was held to introduce university and community members to the building for the first time since it’s $32.8 million renovation began in May 2015.
The college received a $28 million donation from Violet L. Patton in 2010, to contribute to the renovation and result in the renaming of the college to honor her parents.
Patton College Dean Renee Middleton said the reopening was about more than the end of construction.
“What matters to me more than anything is for you to understand that this college is not defined by this edifice,” Middleton said. “The building is not who we are…the building has finally caught up to exemplify and speak to the important work that the faculty here have done for generations, and that work, I think, sometimes goes unnoticed.”
President Roderick McDavis, an alumnus of the Patton College, said the renovation was much-needed. He remembered walking through the halls of the original building in the late 1960s.
“There were some days when, I have to admit to you, I really didn’t want to come in the building,” McDavis said. “But we came to this building because this building was family, this was our community, this was our home.”
The building was built in 1959, and has not been renovated until now. The renovation increased the building’s square footage from 66,000 to 100,500.
Included in the renovation was a literacy center, statistics lab, active learning classroom, textile lab and kitchen space for students.
The new building incorporates “green” technology with low-flow toilets, LET interior lighting, renewable energy generation and a “green roof” for use as an outdoor classroom and special event space.
McCracken now has four floors and house two more departments of the Patton College: Human and Consumer Sciences as well as Recreation and Sport Pedagogy.