Curtain rises on River Campus

The first day of classes at the River Campus had the feel of any other school day -- just in a multimillion-dollar, brand-new performing arts education center.

Students were on campus, but there was no crushing tide of collegiates strolling around the campus grounds. The parking lot remained about half-full all day, and students didn't appear to wait long for their scheduled shuttles.

Administrators called it a successful day, even though they were dealing with incomplete construction -- contractors were still putting finishing touches throughout the campus buildings and working on the Bedell Performance Hall -- and buildings that had never held classes before.

"So far, so good," said Dr. Gary Miller, interim director of the Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts housed mainly at the River Campus. "But we know it won't be all happiness and roses all week."

The typical first-day hassles were there, like the crush of students in the music department office mid-morning trying to get changes to their class schedules and getting used to the new "smart boards" that replaced chalk and dry erase boards. The boards allow instructors to give computer presentations in front of the class and mark on the board during those presentations.

Professor Steve Hendricks opened a senior synthesis music class in one of old St. Vincent's Seminary new classrooms on Monday, August 20, 2007. All River Campus classrooms are equipped with smart boards, which are connected to desktop computers, saying goodbye to the days of chalk boards. (Kit Doyle)

About 350 students -- the average daily attendance -- stepped onto the $50 million campus for classes, to sign up for choir tryouts or just to take a look.

Students still moaned when they learned about dreaded assignments, like those in Steve Hendricks' music synthesis class, a requirement for music majors wanting to student teach.

But all the familiarity of the school routine was complemented by an appreciation of the art school's new digs. Students lounged around in the cultural arts center, touring the building or eating lunch in the large open space between the Bedell and the university museum. Chartwells had steady traffic at its lunch kitchen -- the first one located in a classroom facility at the university.

"It's awesome, and having this huge space will be great," said junior Whitney Lamora after her first class inside the new dance studio. Before, dance classes were stuffed into cramped facilities in Parker Hall on the main campus -- rooms not designed as dance studios.

Junior vocal music major Edwin Williams said he was "really impressed" by his first visit to the campus where he'll attend half his classes this semester. "It looks very hi-tech," Williams said standing near the huge, modern glass walls of the cultural arts center that houses the Bedell and the university museum.

The campus' aesthetic qualities seemed to be at the forefront of opinions about the campus.

When asked about his impression of his new office and classrooms, music professor Dr. Jeff Noonan first focused on the view from his office that looks out on the Mississippi River and the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.

"It's very pretty," Noonan said. "I've got a great view, and we have a great recital hall."

But like Miller, Noonan said there's still uncertainty about the coming year. The River Campus isn't perfect. Like any new setup, there are still bugs to work out, a process Noonan said might take a while.

"There are things that aren't going to work, and there are things that are going to work," Noonan said without going into specifics.

On balance, opinions seemed more positive than negative.

Art department graphic design and animation specialist Louise Bodenheimer had nothing but good things to say about her new classroom decked out with 21 high-powered Macintosh computer stations funded by a federal education grant. In the new facility, Bodenheimer has more class and office space. Her students have an in-house resource center to get ideas from periodicals and other publications.

Another plus is the air. In graphic design's old location on the main campus in Serena Hall, window air conditioning units were used in the antiquated building next to the university's power plant. Coal dust was common in classroom air. Not anymore.

Every discipline within the art department, from painting to fibers to graphic design, is enjoying more space with the new facilities.

The art department is split between the new campus and the old campus -- which is still home to ceramics, sculpture and "new genre" disciplines. Department chair Pat Reagan said the situation does create a challenge, but she'll split her time between the two campuses to keep communication open.

"It's important we're still a team," Reagan said.

Reagan said there's a net gain from having the new facilities despite the drawback of a geographically split program. In addition to the classrooms, the department now has its own art gallery for the first time.

"This is more efficient," Reagan said. "It's more designed for us, other than us adapting to spaces that weren't made for us."

Freshman musical theater major Jessi Lynn Cochran liked the separation of the two campuses. "It's kind of like its own performing arts school."

msanders@semissourian.com

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