The Bowdoin Orient

February 16, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 16

Take a tour of the admissions building

by JANE HUMMER, STAFF WRITER

   The transformation of the former Kappa Delta Theta fraternity house into Bowdoin's new admissions office is nearly complete, and it is a remarkable addition to our campus. No longer will prospective students and their families wander around Stowe and the Tower looking for a small, unsightly admissions office after searching for a parking spot for 15 minutes.
   Now, as they pull into the convenient visitors' parking lot from Maine Street, they will see the impressive façade of the new office, with its white columns, balcony, and stained glass insignia.
   The narrow, dimly-lit waiting room of the old admissions office is in stark contrast to the spacious and light-filled entrance hall of the new building. The walls have been painted a beautiful deep red with white accents.
   After checking in with the receptionist, visitors can pick up viewbooks and course catalogues, check out current campus events on several bulletin boards, or access the Internet on one of four computers set up in the entrance hall.
   While waiting for a tour or interview to begin, visitors can relax in the comfortable, lounge-like waiting room immediately off to the right of the entrance hall. The air-conditioned room is complete with green leather couches, upholstered chairs, window seats, and a working gas fireplace.
   Throughout the building, the original woodwork of the windows, mantels, and window-seats has been exquisitely restored. In addition to the cosmetic work that has been done, major structural changes had to be made to have the building meet regulations, including adding an elevator and two enclosed stairwells, and fixing the foundation.
   Unlike the former admissions office, with only two single bathrooms available to visitors, the new office has several large, beautifully tiled bathrooms on the first floor.
   To the left of the entrance hall is a large room dedicated to group information sessions. As visitors trickle in for the sessions, they will notice a large, state of the art, flat-screen television on the wall. The television will be continuously showing images of aspects of the College not visible on the campus tour, including the Coastal Studies Center and behind-the-scenes work in Pickard Theater.
   The group information session room can seat up to 45 people and opens through sliding doors onto the side porch of the building, allowing an easy departure point for campus tours. Although most of the rooms haven't been decorated yet, there is a valuable original Audubon painting, a gift from an alumnus, gracing the wall just outside the group information session room.
   If the prospective student is having an interview, he or she will be led up the grand staircase to the second or third floor, where the admissions officers have their offices.
   The new building is completely accessible to visitors in wheelchairs, with additional interview rooms on the first floor as well as access to the upper floors by elevator. The offices each have large windows, affording the occupants lots of natural light and a nice view of the library, Baxter House, or the front lawn.
   The new admissions office not only will impress prospective students with its beauty and technology, but it will also improve the efficiency and comfort of the admissions staff. In the old building, the support staff had offices on the first floor, while the admissions officers' offices were on the second floor.
   Now, the admissions officers' and support staff's offices are side-by-side on the second and third floors. The data entry room is equipped with ergonomic desks of adjustable height, which is very important because many different people use those desks.
   Senior interviewers will have their own office on the third floor where they can go to write up their interviews.
   The new building includes plenty of storage room for archived applications, with file cabinets on rollers to allow easy transportation of the huge volume of paperwork that the college application process generates.
   The large staff conference room is in the former Theta library in the basement. It has a small kitchen, fireplace, and windows, making a nice homey atmosphere for where the real action takes place-the critical decisions of acceptance and rejection.
   The Ouellet Construction company, a Maine business that also built Howard and Stowe, did a wonderful job preserving the architectural details of the former Theta house while transforming it into a modern, functional office. Richard Steele, Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid, said that his favorite thing about the new office was how it had "a sense of history and the latest technology merged with it."
   The new office will be fully operating by the end of the month.

The waiting room in the new admissions office comes complete with leather couches and a gas fireplace. (Sherri Kies/Bowdoin Orient)