Hibbs renovation opens new doors for students

The renovated Hibbs Building and the creation of the University College led to a rebirth of several VCU programs.

Students in need of advising, tutoring or other university-focused programs now have a new, more central location to obtain the much needed services.

Michal Zivan Coffey, director of the Campus Learning Center, couldn’t be happier. The CLC is one campus program benefiting from the renovated Hibbs and University College.

Coffey was hired three years ago as a tutoring coordinator. After VCU received a $1.2 million government grant to increase students’ math and science scores, she helped launch an in-depth tutoring program at VCU.

“This was something VCU clearly needed,” Coffey said.

The small tutoring program was soon acknowledged as a vital necessity, and the university officially named it the Campus Learning Center two years ago, the same year Coffey was named director.

Coffey began building a free tutoring program available to all students. Its features included class-specific assistance, individual tutoring and flexible drop-in tutoring schedules.

Location, however, hindered the CLC.

The CLC was placed in a small building off Harrison Street in an “awkward location,” Coffey said. It was secluded, hidden by surrounding buildings and difficult for students to find.

“It was hard for people who weren’t familiar with the campus yet,” she said.

This August the CLC packed its bags and moved into the newly renovated Hibbs building. It has made all the difference, Coffey said.

The CLC staff knew about the move for a year, and it served as a motivation, Coffey said.

“Our mantra for the year was, ‘Soon we’ll be in a pretty new space,'” Coffey said, laughing.

The new space has increased the CLC’s visibility, and Coffey said, the number of students the CLC staff sees.

“Now if we tell them we’re across from Shafer (Court Dining Cener), they know where they’re coming,” she said.

Before moving to Hibbs, the CLC staff saw about 700 students walk through its doors in one semester, Coffey estimated. This semester the doors of the CLC constantly open and close.

Since September, CLC has counted 4,580 contact hours with students.

“Our numbers are just way up,” Coffey said. “More students are using us more frequently, and we’re also seeing more students overall, and that thrills us.”

Coffey said the CLC is at “maximum efficiency,” and there is never a room left unscheduled or unused.

Even with an increase of students, individual appointments are still readily available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, Coffey said.

Coffey said she is excited and thankful for the new building. She said the old building was tight on space, forcing the tutoring and supplemental instruction coordinators to share an office. She said the lighting was harsh and the tutoring rooms were tiny.

Now, Coffey and the rest of the CLC staff are living it up, she said, with natural lighting, better acoustics, a better heating and cooling system, more offices and more rooms for tutoring.

“This is an amazing change from last year,” Coffey said.

Coffey and her staff are not the only ones experiencing the change.

Patty Strong, director of the Writing Center – another program recently added to the University College – said she is seeing an influx of students as well.

The center was previously housed with the Department of English. Strong described the operation then as “low tech.”

“We had a shabby little room on the third floor,” she said. “So this (new location) is just wonderful for us,” she said.

Strong said the Writing Center’s relocation has been nothing but helpful for the program.

“In general traffic and writing assistance traffic, I’d say at least 30 percent,” Strong said of the increase.

Historically, writing centers are tucked away in unattractive rooms, she said. This move elevated the program from a basement operation to something much larger, she said.

“Our services have always been there for students. It’s not that we’re so much radically changing the way we do things, but for me moving down into this really terrific space sends a message,” she said.

It shows the importance of writing and it’s not something we hide in the basement.”

Strong said it was easy for students to think of writing as a punishment when they had to maneuver through twelve hallways and go into a room with bad lighting and bad smells.

The new location, however, is nothing like a dungeon, she said. It also makes the Writing Center more central to everything else, and that shows the importance of writing in our culture, she said.

“It brings it out into the open,” Strong said.

She said she is so excited about the new space she wants to change the name to The Mind Spa.