2024 is shaping up to be a year of renovations for Shippensburg University. The campus is expecting continued refurbishments of its residence halls and a possible redesign of Kriner Hall, but the largest project set to begin this summer is the multi-year Franklin Science Center renovation.

Franklin Science Center (FSC) was built in 1970 and underwent a partial renovation in 2002 that targeted HVAC and electric upgrades. At the time, there were minimal upgrades to the building’s interior. Conversations surrounding more thorough renovations to FSC were brought up as early as 2010, but due to delays and budgetary issues, a finalized design contract was not completed until 2022.

The groundbreaking is not expected until August or September, but the initial transition for FSC faculty members took place within the last week. Psychology professors will be moving their offices in waves to Wright Hall and will completely relocate this summer to minimize any inconvenience to students. The psychology student lounge, labs, graduate assistant spaces and department office will remain untouched until the semester ends.

Five faculty members have transitioned so far, and another five will make the move this week, according to Psychology Department Chair Suzanne Morin.

Throughout discussions of how renovations would impact the psychology department, Morin prioritized finding another pocket of campus where her faculty could remain together.

“Keeping all my faculty in the same spot makes it easier for students to still have contact with us,” Morin said. “Not only that, but they've also given a space in Wright Hall where we can continue to do our research, so working with students on research isn't going to be impacted.”

Wright Hall has primarily been used by adjunct faculty and is not home to any one department, so psychology is not “kicking out” any of their colleagues, Morin said.

To prepare for new Wright residents, campus partners have been working to repair and replace old furniture, paint the walls and design a research space for psych students to use on the second floor of Wright Hall. Morin also has plans to update both physical and online directories and install signage – including a large welcome banner – to make psychology’s presence throughout the building known.

When early renovation talks were occurring, it was decided that psychology would relocate because its courses are not as tied down to the laboratories as other departments.

“It's convenient to have our teaching space and our research space together, but we were one of the most portable and frankly, we volunteered,” Morin said. “We have, I think the home court advantage to be out of the chaos doing our thing with our students and continuing to build community with the new students coming in.” 

In the summer 2023 edition of the SU Magazine, a story on the FSC renovations estimated a timeline of roughly August 2024 to January 2027. If all goes well, this is still the estimated timeline, but as Morin said, the psych department is happy to be situated in another building in case issues arise or the project takes longer than expected.

Phase one will involve the renovation of the south side of the building and is expected to take roughly 14 months, according to SU Assistant Director of Planning and Engineering Bruce Herring. Phase two will then continue from roughly January of 2026 to spring 2027.

For now, the other departments in FSC are staying put and will see their operations impacted later this year. Only half of the building will be under renovation at a time, and the Biology and Chemistry departments will share the remaining space.

“Most of our lecture courses will be held in other buildings, but our labs will continue in FSC,” Biology Department Chair Sherri Bergsten said. “We have been working together, with support from the administration, to figure out how to best share spaces in FSC so that we can continue to offer all of our laboratory courses, and that faculty and students can continue their research during the renovation.” 

While psych’s home base will remain in Wright Hall, it will follow suit and will also hold several courses in Shippen Hall, Dauphin Humanities Center Huber Arts Center and other available spaces across campus.

When the renovations are complete, Morin is excited to see the modernity of a space that will be more inclusive and will allow the sciences to interact more with the community and involve them in research.

“I'd really like to see improvements in the lab spaces along with the accessibility of the building, especially in lab spaces,” junior psychology major Amanda Holmes said. “Even having an accessibility entrance located closer to the elevator would be wonderful to see. I'd like to see improvements in the lecture hall seats, so that it can be more inclusive of bigger body types.” 

Planned upgrades to FSC include “modernization to the laboratory and teaching laboratory portions of the building, modernization of classrooms and computer labs modernization of faculty offices” and “incorporation of collaboration spaces as part of the hallways throughout the building to facilitate student interaction and help with hallway congestion,” Herring said.

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