FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Friday, April 23, 2004

�Reborn� Powdermaker Hall Opens

$69 Million Queens College Project

FLUSHING � Little but the name remains the same.

Sure, Powdermaker Hall is still named for Queens College anthropologist Hortense Powdermaker. And it�s still the main classroom building at Queens College.

But at a ribbon-cutting ceremony today, Powdermaker Hall�s renovation from a 1960s-era building to a 21st-century masterpiece was celebrated.

Under the supervision of the Dormitory Authority�s Office of Construction, the building was stripped to its frame and rebuilt using the original footprint. Powdermaker Hall is no longer a rectangle, but has interior courtyards and much more perimeter space, designed to provide most of the faculty with outside offices with windows.

The building includes 29 media-ready classrooms for 55-70 students with ceiling-installed data projector with Internet access and sound systems; five computer labs; 13 seminar/conference rooms, including one with a digital unit allowing integrated multimedia projection and multi-site meeting capability; student lounges, offices and work space for 11 academic departments and the deans of education and social services. The building includes air-conditioning, soundproofing, a new fa�ade, triple-glazed windows, and internal courtyards.

Dormitory Authority Executive Director Maryanne Gridley accepted an award from College President James Muyskens at today�s ceremony for the Authority�s role in providing tax-exempt financing and construction project management services for the $69 million makeover. The building has been in use by faculty and students since September 2, 2003.

�The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York provided us with the funds for this vital project, and the result is a model of efficient, functional space that is also aesthetically exciting,� President Muyskens said. �I am also very pleased that our students are enjoying the benefits and convenience of the latest educational technology in Powdermaker, and a dozen lounges where they can meet and work.�

�We want to offer our thanks to the Queens College community, who had to teach and learn in an occupied building, which is always a challenge and never convenient,� Ms. Gridley said, noting the project�s three-year construction schedule. Ms. Gridley also thanked City University Vice Chancellor of Facilities, Design and Construction Emma Macari and her staff �for their support of and dedication to this complex, yet beautiful, project.�

As part of New York City�s Percent for Art program, three projects were commissioned for Powdermaker Hall. Christian Philip Muller�s �Spice Up,� in three student lounges, reflects the diversity of Queens College students by incorporating enlarged photos of international spices and food staples into the space and furniture design. Julie Ault�s �Point of Entry� consists of quotations about learning and education by Emily Dickinson, James Baldwin and Michel Foucault, among others, mounted at 12 building entrances. The final work will be installed in the fall: 18 photographs, some more than 6 feet long, of contemporary Queens scenes taken by Joel Sternfeld and Frank Gohlke.

The DASNY project team was led by Michael Stabulas, Director of the CUNY Construction Program, and Project Manager John Sanguiliano. Associate Architect Diane Serber coordinates the art program.

�I hope that Queens College faculty and students will enjoy their new academic home for many years to come,� Ms. Gridley added.

For more information, contact Press Officer Claudia Hutton at (518) 257 3382, or CHutton@dasny.org. For more on Queens College, visit http://www.qc.edu/

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