Ambitious Projects Transform Campus
At the start of the fall 2018 semester, students returned to a dramatically different Wilkes campus. Pictured here, the Fenner Quadrangle has been transformed with an expanded gateway linking it to South Main Street, new walkways and meeting places. All photos by Earl & Sedor Photographic unless otherwise noted.
The bulldozers and earth movers arrived on campus two days after the May commencement ceremony. They left the Fenner Quadrangle less than a week before first-year students arrived on campus for fall semester. In between their arrival and departure, a series of projects created a green oasis in the center of campus, planted new trees, built walkways and put the finishing touches on a renovation to Stark Learning Center. These campus enhancements, completed during summer and early fall 2018, have achieved Wilkes’ goal of creating a traditional residential campus within the City of Wilkes-Barre. Part of a $100 million plan, the completed projects include an expanded gateway linking the southern part of campus to the Fenner Quadrangle. Other recently completed projects created new green space and a companion gateway at the south entrance to the Henry Student Center. These pages offer a look at a campus transformed.
From top to bottom, 1. A new façade has transformed the Stark Learning Center and the entrance to the College of Science and Engineering. 2. An archway across from the Henry Student Center marks the entrance to the Fenner Quadrangle. 3. The Stark Learning Center courtyard has been transformed into an inviting area to gather between classes. 4. A new walkway and a new gathering place have been built behind the student center.
An aerial view shows the pedestrian walkway created behind the Henry Student Center.
Campus Enhancement By The Numbers
- 61,610 bricks used to create new walkways
- 26,884 square feet of new concrete walk
- 50 new LED lights
- 40 new trees added to campus
The archway behind the student center is seen in close up. Photo by Knot Just Any Day.
Mark Engineering Center
The dramatic $8 million renovation of the Stark Learning Center will equip Wilkes engineering students with skills relevant to the 21st Century. Funded by a leadership gift from alumnus Randy Mark ’81 and his wife, Robin, and by a $3 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant, the center was dedicated on Sept. 14.
Xiaoming Mu, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, standing foreground, supervises mechanical engineering junior Jeshurun Sestito in one of the flexible lab spaces. The space allows students and faculty to work on multiple projects in one area.
About the Mark Engineering Center
- Additive manufacturing and high-performance computing labs
- Refreshed building facade facing the Fenner Quadrangle and courtyard areas
- Microfabrication lab outfitted with equipment donated from ON Semiconductor
- Two large flex labs, interdisciplinary-collaboration space and student lounges
- Flexible wet lab space for bioengineering experimentation, faculty research and graduate student activities
- Dedicated space for 3-D printing and high-end computers that are integral in research and new product design activities
Wilkes 