University Center

University center still without project director By SCOTT BUTKI / Staff Writer The University System of Maryland has not yet selected a new project director for the system's Hagerstown Center, system spokesman Chris Hart said Wednesday. Robert Sweeney, who had been project director, resigned in June. He is now working as a consultant on Allegheny Energy's Friendship Technology Park. There is no set plan on how or when a replacement will be selected, Hart said.

Cost of university center set at $15.3 million By DAN KULIN / Staff Writer photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer The University System of Maryland Hagerstown Education Center is now projected to cost $15.3 million, University System Capital Planning Director Mark Beck said Monday. continued That figure is $2.8 million above the previous estimate of $12.5 million, but University System Chancellor Donald Langenberg said "chances are very good" the project will be funded in the governor's budget.

gregs@herald-mail.com Wearing a backpack and a pair of jeans, Darrin Isom, 27, looked very much like the student he is on Friday as he walked into the main entrance of the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown with about 20 of his classmates. Together, they were the first official group of students to enter the school building as part of a ceremony dubbed a "key turning" to commemorate the opening of the new center, which will house programs from three University System of Maryland institutions, including Frostburg State University, which moved from a smaller building next door on West Washington Street.

Hagerstown Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II said Wednesday he hoped any conflict he and State Sen. Donald F. Munson may have had is over now that Munson says he supports a downtown Hagerstown location for an education center. On Tuesday, Bruchey criticized Munson, R-Washington, for making negative comments about the proposed location for the university center. Munson claims he's been supportive of the governor's decision to put the University System of Maryland education center downtown.

ANNAPOLIS - In a face-to-face meeting with Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, Sen. Donald F. Munson reaffirmed that he will work to remove any roadblocks to putting a University System of Maryland education center in downtown Hagerstown. "This puts in back on track. It's moving forward," said Munson, R-Washington. Glendening decided in November to put the university center in the former Baldwin House complex downtown, over the objections of community and university leaders. Two weeks ago, Munson's subcommittee reopened the location issue by requesting that the University System compare the sites that had been considered, including student demand at each location.

Editor's note: This is the third in a six-part series about the opening of the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown. shappell@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - "The answer is, four. " That was one of the key lines in the Rodney Dangerfield comedy "Back to School," and it also was the number of people attending the first official day of classes in the new University System of Maryland at Hagerstown building. University system officials promise that more students are coming.

Turning the downtown Hagerstown Baldwin House complex into a state university center probably will cost more and take longer than previously estimated. Planning, designing, building and then furnishing the finished facility will cost an estimated $12.6 million, said Charles R. Middleton, University System of Maryland vice chancellor for academic affairs. Middleton was one of four University System officials who gave a presentation to a joint meeting of the Washington County Commissioners and Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday.

Hagerstown's mayor and City Council are putting past differences aside and joining the effort to bring a state university campus to donated land at Allegheny Power's Friendship Technology Park off Interstate 70. Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II was an outspoken supporter of a proposal to bring the university center to the vacant Baldwin Complex in downtown Hagerstown. That plan was proposed by former Mayor Steven T. Sager, who said renovating the complex would be millions of dollars cheaper than building on the technology park site.

Building a university center at Hagerstown Community College won't affect Washington County's plans to widen Robinwood Drive, the county administrator said Tuesday. cont. from front page The number of students expected to attend the University System of Maryland Hagerstown Center in its first year is not high enough to justify speeding up plans to improve part of Robinwood Drive and reroute another stretch, County Administrator Rodney Shoop said during a meeting with the Washington County Commissioners.

Ten years after it was founded, Mountain State University's growing branch campus in Martinsburg is increasingly pressed for classroom space, but the private, not-for-profit school's success apparently hasn't been stymied. The Beckley, W.Va.-based school on Wednesday announced that the Higher Learning Commission-North Central Association renewed its accreditation for the maximum 10 years. Layne Diehl, executive vice president of Mountain State University-Martinsburg, in a news release credited local volunteers and support from the community for much of the school's success in the Eastern Panhandle.

The second of three buildings forming Shepherd University's Center for Contemporary Arts, a “building designed from the inside out,” was dedicated Thursday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the West Campus. “That's what happens when the inside dictates what the outside of a building looks like,” said Dow Benedict, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities. The exterior of the 26,000-square-foot, three-story structure is clad in heavy copper shingles that time will darken with a patina.

Mountain State University is consolidating operations at the private college's Martinsburg campus and is leaving space it recently renovated at Martinsburg Mall, administrators said Thursday. There are 67 students enrolled at the school's Martinsburg campus, which is down substantially from the spring semester when more than 100 were enrolled in the school's hybrid learning program alone, according to Martinsburg campus executive director David Shahan. There are now nine students in the hybrid learning program, Shahan said.

Ten years after it was founded, Mountain State University's growing branch campus in Martinsburg is increasingly pressed for classroom space, but the private, not-for-profit school's success apparently hasn't been stymied. The Beckley, W.Va.-based school on Wednesday announced that the Higher Learning Commission-North Central Association renewed its accreditation for the maximum 10 years. Layne Diehl, executive vice president of Mountain State University-Martinsburg, in a news release credited local volunteers and support from the community for much of the school's success in the Eastern Panhandle.

"Words and Music" was held at the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown on April 22 to celebrate National Jazz Month and National Poetry Month in April. At the event, jazz musician Joshua Bayer and local poet Hope Maxwell-Snyder shared their talents with community members and USMH students and staff. "The arts can inspire so much in people," said JoEllen Barnhart, USMH associate executive director. "Giving our students and community the chance to talk one-on-one with a published author and allowing them to escape for a little while into the world of jazz, is what bringing a cultural event to USMH is all about.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- The new Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) building at Shepherd University was dedicated Thursday afternoon. About 200 people attended the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for Phase I, the first one completed of the three buildings planned. The building is on West Campus Drive. "We are showing you today an incomplete masterpiece," said Dow Benedict, Shepherd University's dean of arts and humanities. The building has been open since February and has faculty offices and 10 classrooms, including a digital photo processing studio, a painting studio and a printmaking studio "that is nontoxic and environmentally friendly," said Doug Moss of Holzman Moss, the architectural firm that designed the building.

kristinw@herald-mail.com SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - The furniture is in place, the paint is dry and officials at Pennsylvania's Shippensburg University are ready to open the doors to the brand new, $20 million H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center. With a grand opening performance by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Thursday, Jan. 19, the 1,500-seat Luhrs Center will put itself on the performing arts map as one of the largest theaters between Harrisburg, Pa., and Harrisonburg, Va., says Jeffrey Sommer, the center's director of marketing and administrative services.

Editor's note: This is the third in a six-part series about the opening of the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown. shappell@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - "The answer is, four. " That was one of the key lines in the Rodney Dangerfield comedy "Back to School," and it also was the number of people attending the first official day of classes in the new University System of Maryland at Hagerstown building. University system officials promise that more students are coming.

gregs@herald-mail.com Wearing a backpack and a pair of jeans, Darrin Isom, 27, looked very much like the student he is on Friday as he walked into the main entrance of the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown with about 20 of his classmates. Together, they were the first official group of students to enter the school building as part of a ceremony dubbed a "key turning" to commemorate the opening of the new center, which will house programs from three University System of Maryland institutions, including Frostburg State University, which moved from a smaller building next door on West Washington Street.

tammyb@herald-mail.com Though it isn't always visible to those who travel West Washington Street, there's a steady stream of activity behind the scaffolding and screens hiding the facade of the former Baldwin House hotel. Workers are adding new molding to replace the decayed originals, installing wires and putting up drywall. They're even replacing the 19th-century building's tin ceilings. They're on schedule to complete the renovation and construction work by Nov. 16. That will give center Executive Director David Warner and his staff a month and a half to get the building furnished and ready for students enrolling at the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown in January.

Cost of university center set at $15.3 million By DAN KULIN / Staff Writer photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer The University System of Maryland Hagerstown Education Center is now projected to cost $15.3 million, University System Capital Planning Director Mark Beck said Monday. continued That figure is $2.8 million above the previous estimate of $12.5 million, but University System Chancellor Donald Langenberg said "chances are very good" the project will be funded in the governor's budget.