POTSDAM - The SUNY Potsdam community will celebrate extensive renovations and a state-of-the-art addition to its largest residence hall next week.

There will be an opening celebration from noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bowman Hall.

Bowman Hall is the largest residential complex on campus and houses more than 700 SUNY Potsdam students. Renovations to Bowman Hall began in the summer of 2008 and have included extensive upgrades to many residence hall rooms, the addition of free laundry areas on each floor and improved interior design, with the addition of a new stairwell.

These changes will significantly benefit the College’s students, and in particular its first-year students, who comprise a majority of the Bowman Hall residents.

Along with these renovations, the college is extremely pleased to announce the completion of a 15,000-square-foot addition to Bowman Hall. This unique student space features a technology center, a communal kitchen, social gathering areas and game rooms with air hockey, ping pong, foosball and pool tables.

The extension also houses multi-purpose rooms with floor-to-ceiling dry erase boards and moveable walls, plus a media room where they can practice for in-class presentations or just relax and watch a movie.

The large, light-filled space opens up to outdoor patios. The building’s new information desk will make Resident Assistants even more visible and accessible to students as well.

The addition includes a geothermal heating and cooling system, enhancing the campus’s sustainability as it reduces the college’s carbon footprint. In addition, it has a Brita water station for students to fill their water bottles on the way to class, in order to cut down on plastic consumption.

The renovations to Bowman Hall enhance the residential component of SUNY Potsdam’s nationally recognized first-year experience.

The complex houses First-Year Interest Groups, where freshmen can choose to live together on a “theme” floor, based on their mutual academic interests, including an arts floor, a childhood education floor and an Honors Program floor.

The grand opening event will feature tours of the new space and refreshments.

For more information about this event, contact events coordinator Kathryn Deuel at (315) 267-2102 or deuelkj@potsdam.edu.

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