Collegiate Times

East Ambler Johnson Hall, currently being renovated, will open in 2011.

Starting in 2011, about 400 students in the honors program will have the opportunity to live in a refurbished East Ambler Johnston Hall that will serve as Virginia Tech’s first residential college.

Terry Papillon, director of the university honors program, said the roughly $80 million project would encourage “learning encounters.”

The residential college model essentially invites faculty and classrooms into the residence hall. Both East and West AJ will have one large faculty residence apartment each, into which one faculty member and his family will move permanently. Other faculty members will have the opportunity to relocate their offices into the building.

“Faculty who have academic offices in the building will be a real part of that learning environment, making education a whole person experience,” Papillon said.

A residential college combines faculty offices and residences with classrooms and student residences. For example, East AJ will feature a 49-seat movie theater in addition to classrooms.

“The idea of a residential college is the faculty presence,” Papillon said.

Papillon said there might be extra fees for students living in the residential college to offset the costs of special programming and stipends for the faculty living there.

Hugh Latimer, a campus planner within Tech’s Office of the University Architect, said in East and West AJ crews are renovating bathrooms and adding air conditioning. The changes are in addition to the faculty apartments, classroom areas and improvement to the common areas in the crossover bridge between East and West AJ that will contain libraries, study lounges and kitchens.

Latimer said the connector space “will be much different.”

“It should be the most utilized space,” he said.

Although the intent all along was to renovate AJ, it was not originally intended to be transformed into the first residential college at Virginia Tech, according to Rick Johnson, director of housing and dining services.

Papillon said the idea of a residential college came up during construction during conversations with Frank Shushok, associate vice president of student affairs, about potentially expanding housing for honors students.

Shushok, who came to Tech from Baylor University in Texas last summer, worked to open the first two residential colleges there, one of which is an honors college.

“I said I would like to have more beds for honors students,” Papillon said. “When (Shushok) came, he knew AJ was being renovated. He wanted to open (East and West AJ), not as residential halls, but as residential colleges.”

Shushok said he felt administrators at Tech “were really inspired by the possibilities” residential colleges offer. One of his platforms in support of residential colleges is the push to create a four-year residential experience.

“We want it to be a place that focuses on all parts of their life and have easy interaction with faculty,” Shushok said. “It will be a four-year residential experience in one location.”

Shushok said residential colleges “create a conversation among diverse groups of students. It integrates intellectual needs with residential needs and increases chance encounters with learning with faculty offices and residences,” he said.

Papillon said the decision to create a residential college was made possible because the original construction was done under budget. The renovations would have needed an extra $1 million, but the architect in charge of the project, Gary Mason, had not used the entire allotted budget. Because no extra money was needed, the idea was introduced and approved quickly.

Shushok proposed the switch to a residential college format in November. By January, Papillon said, the decision to go with that model was made final.

“The original plan was to have a spa and tanning facility. (Shushok’s) reaction was, ‘What?’” Papillon said. “(We decided to) rip that (salon) out and make that faculty offices.”

East AJ, which will open in 2011, will be open only to honors students. West AJ, set to open in 2012, will be open for any student, not just those in the honors program.

Papillon said he hopes to give honors students more opportunities to live together in residential communities. There are currently two honors communities, one in Main Campbell Hall and the other in Hillcrest Hall.

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A version of this article appeared in the May 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.