New Residence Hall Planning

Mount Holyoke is beginning to plan for its first new residence hall in forty years, since McGregor Hall was opened in 1967. Current plans are for a building that will house 200 students, making it the largest residence hall on campus. We have a wonderful opportunity to capture in its design what is best about the residential character of the Mount Holyoke community.

A new residence hall will allow us to keep the same size student body (or even reduce it somewhat) but to increase the space we have for our students, with larger and more flexibly configured rooms, and more common space. It will also create swing space so we can make substantial renovations – renovations that extend into the school year – to existing residence halls.

It is a dream at the moment, but a dream that is beginning to take substance as we begin designing. The Trustees will have the opportunity to approve plans in spring, 2006, and we would hope for students entering as first-year students this fall to have the opportunity to live in it during their senior year in the fall of 2008!

This Web site contains a wealth of material that captures our thinking about the new hall and its trajectory. Remember, these are not plans, they are ideas, and they are changing as we think together. I urge you to contribute your ideas too to the ongoing planning, either by posting them on the web-board, or by emailing them to the Planning Committee.

Yours sincerely,

Lee Bowie
Dean of the College