Campus News
Bluefield College Board Names New Residence Hall, Elects New Officers (November 7, 2008)
Members of the Bluefield College Board of Trustees gathered on campus for their annual fall meetings, October 17-18, and during the two-day session the Board approved a name for the school’s new residence hall, endorsed a new Campus Master Plan, and elected new trustees and officers.
The college broke ground on its new residence hall in May of this year, and quickly began to finalize the financing for the school’s first new living and learning facility in more than 30 years. With funding now in place and official construction underway, the Board decided to name the new building -- East River Hall.
“This new residence hall will be a prominent feature of the Bluefield College campus, and East River Mountain is a prominent geographical feature of the Bluefield area,” said trustee Keith Cox. “Therefore, we think it is appropriate that the building bear this name.”
The building, to be located in front of Cruise Hall, an existing residence facility, and beside Easley Library, will face East River Mountain and provide residential students with not only an impressive view of the mountainside, but also a “contemporary” residence facility that “integrates learning and living” and “enhances community.” The structure, a projected $4.3 million facility, will take approximately one year to complete, making it available for students in the fall of 2009.
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Dr. Dan Grabeel, re-elected chairman of the Board for Bluefield College. |
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Chairman of the Board Dan Grabeel (right) recognizes outgoing trustee Richard Norman. |
East River Hall is just one of the many new facilities sketched out in the college’s Campus Master Plan 2018, which the Board also approved in full during its fall meetings. The follow-up piece to the school’s new Strategic Plan, crafted by BC leaders in 2007 and passed by trustees in the spring of 2008, the Campus Master Plan 2018 outlines and visualizes improvements and additions to the BC campus, including the addition of two new residence halls, a Campus and Community Center, and athletic fields.
In other business, the Board extended the term of trustee Dr. Dan Grabeel and then re-elected Dr. Grabeel to a new one-year term of office as chairman of the Board. The group also renewed terms of office for vice chairman Chip Hurley and secretary Julie Hull Johnson.
As part of its election business, the Board approved a four-year term for new trustee Becky Easley Beckett. The election of Beckett continues a longstanding tradition for Bluefield College and its Board of Trustees. Since the creation of the school in 1922, a member of the Easley family has served on the Board. Beckett, the daughter of the late Eva Easley, who served as a trustee for many years until her death in August 2008, will continue that tradition along with her father, Tyler, who is a trustee emeritus.
“We need to all remember Eva and the contributions she made to Bluefield College and this community,” Dr. Grabeel said as part of a memorial to Easley during the trustee meetings. “She did an outstanding job in anything she was asked to do as a trustee. Bluefield and Bluefield College have lost a strong supporter.”
In other recognition during the two-day fall session, the Board acknowledged trustee Richard Norman, whose term with the group is expiring after 10 years of service. Norman, a 1978 BC alumnus and president of the Richard Norman Company in Reston, Virginia, has served as a member of the Board’s Advancement Committee for nine years, including several years as chairman of that committee.
