UPB to Rededicate Swarts Hall

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will rededicate its first academic building, Swarts Hall, on Friday, Oct. 3. Swarts Hall re-opened this fall after a year-and-a-half $6.4 million renovation.

The rededication, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 4:30 p.m., followed by tours, mini-reunions by academic area, demonstrations by academic programs and refreshments. The event is part of activities for Alumni and Family Weekend.

The renovation created new nursing labs that will mimic a real hospital, a large multimedia technology classroom, a psychology lab and an E-venture lab as well as new suites of private faculty offices that will provide students and faculty with more privacy.

“The renovation of this important academic building reestablishes it as the heart and soul of our academic complex,” said Dr. Livingston Alexander, president. “The state-of-the-art technology that permeates the building will ensure that future generations of Pitt-Bradford students receive the very best education possible.”

Those taking part in the rededication ceremony include Alexander, Pitt-Bradford president; Craig Hartburg, chairman of the Pitt-Bradford Advisory Board; Jessica Visseau, president of the Student Government Association; Dr. Steven Hardin, vice president and dean of academic affairs; and longtime donor William Higie. Also, Dr. James Maher, provost and senior vice chancellor for the University of Pittsburgh, will address those gathered through a recorded message.

Members of the academic programs housed in Swarts will hold cluster reunions for their alumni and present programs on the activities of current students.

The education program will hold its reunion in Room 110, where student work, materials from the Curriculum Resource Center of Hanley Library and photos of students from this semester will be on display. Faculty members Marietta Frank, reference and bibliographic instruction librarian; Vaughn Bicehouse, assistant professor of education; and Dr. Donna Armstrong, assistant professor of education, will greet any visitors who drop by.

The Division of Communication and the Arts will be located in Room 102 and will showcase student work such as Baily’s Beads, play posters, videos and copies of The Source student newspaper. Representatives from each of the programs will be on hand to greet alumni and other visitors.

Business management, economics, accounting and entrepreneurship will be located in Room 161.

Sociology, social sciences, history/political science and criminal justice will be in Room 211.

Psychology will be in Room 235 and will show off its new psychology labs on the second floor.

Representatives of the nursing program will be both in the information technology classroom on the ground floor and upstairs in the new nursing suite, where visitors can see three new nursing labs.

Philosophy and anthropology will be in Room 211, and the human relations program will also hold a reunion.

Swarts Hall was the first academic building on campus in 1973.

Work on the building began in March of last year, when O’Kain Auditorium was gutted. The open space was converted into two floors holding the nursing area upstairs and the business area and technology classroom downstairs.

Hardin thinks the wait was worth it and is particularly pleased with the pleasant private offices for each professor, many of whom had never had a private office before.

Other changes included new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, new electrical service, replacement of floors and ceilings, new windows, painting, upgrades to restrooms and elevators, technology improvements and a completely automated sprinkler and fire system.

The renovation also made Swarts compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

New porticos match the rustic look of the Commons and Blaisdell Hall.

The construction manager for the project was Pittsburgh-based Massaro Inc., which also built the first phase of Blaisdell Hall.

(In the photos, courtesy of Pitt-Bradford, Rich Barton, instructor of nursing, examines Andrew Truman in the new bachelor of science in nursing lab in Swarts Hall and Dr. Gregory Page, associate professor of psychology, shows off the new counseling psychology lab in which he can observe students conducting counseling sessions.)