Kaitlyn Hughes | features writer

As cases of COVID-19 began to dwindle, the faculty and staff of Duquesne University started to formulate questions around what post-pandemic life on campus should look like — three years later, Duquesne revealed its renovations.

With a plan to rebrand in mind, the university came together to create a coherent theme — one that focuses on the success of their students.

“Since Duquesne is a brand, we’re coming out of COVID, we have to redesign and renovate spaces anyway, let’s all align,” said Joel Bauman, senior vice president for enrollment management. “Put the student at the center, put the student experience at the center and then make sure the built environment corresponds to expectations of students and support of students.”

On Nov. 14, Student Life hosted an open house for the second floor of the Student Union to give an official introduction of the new amenities within the building. These facilities include the new Student Success Central, Meditation Room, The Rotary, Tech Hub and Admissions Presentation Room.

Throughout the course of the open house, students gathered on the second floor to take in the new services. Free samples were offered by The Rotary, the newest dining option on campus, and students, faculty and staff had the chance to take part in a guided meditation.

Leanna Fenneberg, senior vice president of student life, said the university is trying to make the Union a “one stop shop” for students to access their resources and become connected with the different areas that will support their experiences.

“From my lens we are here to support students in their success and their development,” Fenneberg said. “The more we can centralize and make ease of access of resources for students, there’s more likelihood that students will take advantage of resources and get connected.”

The new services were put into place to provide students with a sense of belonging, she said.

The renovations for the student experience in the Union were part of this latest phase of making everything one coherent brand.

“To demonstrate the quality, relationship-rich learning experience and the quality [of] the built environment, also conveys something about the quality of the education,” Bauman said.

The rebrand started with the bookstore, then spread throughout campus with new signage being posted everywhere.

Gabriel Welsch, vice president for marketing and communications, said that numerous budgets and programming have been involved in the process.

Bauman said there was a lot of support from the university’s partners at the bookstore and Parkhurst.

“We were really lucky that they invested a lot of their capital into the projects, so we were able to build on that, so it wasn’t all Duquesne expense,” Bauman said.

The new services have been available to students since the beginning of the fall semester, which Welsch said was on schedule.

“At the same time, the university felt it was important to let the staff grow accustomed to shared space before celebrating its opening, and to let the new senior vice president of Student Life get the feel of the campus and our students,” Welsch told The Duke in an email.

Fenneberg said this decision was also the result of the continuous addition of final touches over the past few months.

Some of the new services in the Union were there previously such as the Admissions Presentation Room, but this year it appeared with a different structure and look.

The meditation room was once located in Fisher Hall, but the new spot in the Union took a different approach to the concept.

Going along with the theme of student inclusivity, Ian Edwards, assistant vice president of student wellbeing, said to be welcoming to all students, faculty and staff, they created a space without any specific religious icons or images. Instead the room contains a dark mural depicting nature and meditation pillows.

The space was designed for students to practice mindfulness, pray or to just relax.

“If people use the space and practice some sort of mindfulness meditation or prayer, and they do this consistently. We can guarantee an overall improvement of their wellbeing,” Edwards said.

Sophomore early-childhood education major Sophia Lamarre came to the Union with her friends to participate in a meditation session.

“I think as education majors doing chaotic field studies, being able to go in there afterward is going to be great,” Lamarre said.

Lamarre’s sister graduated from a university in New Jersey and was surprised to hear about the new amenities Duquesne had to offer because her school never provided anything similar, she said.

Sophomore early education major Bella Molitoris said her brother, while attending Penn State University main campus, never had services like a meditation room either.

“[I feel] seen, supported and heard,” Molitoris said.

The university continues to make improvements in relation to their rebranding. Bauman said the next phase is to add a one stop student services center in the ground floor of Old Main including admissions, financial aid, student accounts and registration.