OBSERVER Photo by Nicole Gugino Due to structural and space issues, the SUNY Fredonia Admissions Office is vacating Fenner House on Central Avenue and is moving to the 6th floor of Maytum Hall.

With structural issues at Fenner House and funding for a welcome and admissions center not forthcoming, the State University of New York at Fredonia is using existing space to solve two problems.

Vice President of Academic Affairs Cedric Howard explained involved parties got together in early December to find a solution.

“We had a serious discussion about co-locating functions associated with the admissions operation, not just undergraduate admissions, but graduate admissions, all the admissions operation. … We decided that it was time for us to make a very difficult decision, but a very important decision, and we’re going to move all of the staff out of the Fenner House and move into the 6th floor of Maytum so we can co-locate our entire admissions operation to one functional area,” he told the College Council recently.

Howard said there is a benefit to having all those working on admissions under one roof.

“If you look at the admissions process, the admissions process is really three separate functions. There is the precollege, which we just launched this (school) year and it’s been wonderful. There’s recruitment and then there’s operations. Putting them in one location, on one floor, creates a synergy around the admissions operation. … By doing this it allows us to be more efficient and effective,” he added.

The change will mean a shuffling of personnel from one location to another. Admissions staff will vacate Fenner and relocate to the sixth floor of Maytum prior to the conclusion of winter break on Feb. 19. The four vice presidents will vacate the 6th floor and relocate to the second floor of Fenton Hall.

“Now we will have a central starting and ending point for our tours. Right now, we’ve got three places on campus where tours occur. All tours on campus now will begin and end at Williams Center. It’s a student center, so we’re going to start tours there. And as a value-added situation, we’re going to convert one of the rooms at Williams Center as a presentation room. We’ll have TVs and we’ll be able to do presentations for our new students actually in one of those spaces,” Howard said, also thanking all those involved for making the quick move possible.

College Council Chair Frank Pagano asked if there are concerns with reduced visibility for admissions moving from Central Avenue to Maytum Hall.

“That’s part of the discussion that’s been happening and we’re going to ensure that the signs and things are appropriate. My concern right now is that Fenner is not appropriate for us to run an admissions operation out of it, period. It’s actually doing us a disservice by having us all over the place,” Howard explained.

College Council member Cynthia Ahlstrom asked if the cost of this move had been budgeted.

“Fortunately, when we had the discussion regarding the admissions center, monies had been allocated by the state toward the admissions process, not specifically that building, so we are able to utilize those state funds, not from our campus to accommodate this consolidation and move,” Vice President of Administration and Finance Mike Metzger said.

Metzger added no decisions have been made about the future use of the Fenner House facility or property.