Renovations to Elon University’s Mooney Building are in progress after it closed at the beginning of Winter Term. The building’s closure was announced Jan. 8 and renovations officially began Jan. 14. All upgrades are expected to be finished by the end of summer in time for the fall semester.

Renovations to Elon University’s Mooney Building are in progress after it closed at the beginning of Winter Term. The building’s closure was announced Jan. 8 and renovations officially began Jan. 14. All upgrades are expected to be finished by the end of summer in time for the fall semester.

The new HVAC system installation was ordered during the fall semester, so the updates had been planned. Because replacing the HVAC system requires removing ceilings, construction would have been too disruptive to hold classes in the building, according to Ann Bullock, the dean of Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education.

The new HVAC system installation was ordered during the fall semester, so the updates had been planned. Because replacing the HVAC system requires removing ceilings, construction would have been too disruptive to hold classes in the building, according to Ann Bullock, the dean of Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education.

Mooney, built in 1926, has not been renovated since 1999, when it became the official building for the School of Education. Bullock said she’s been requesting window replacements since she first became dean in 2016. The main issue prompting the remodel was the HVAC system. With several separate units throughout the building, some classrooms could be hot while others were cold, outages happened many different times and the upkeep was no longer worth it, according to Bullock. Now that renovations are in progress, Bullock emphasized the university’s support and responsiveness to the need for updates. 

Mooney has been the primary building for education courses and faculty offices since 1999, requiring several temporary relocations for the spring semester. Education courses are now held in other buildings around campus, mainly in the Historic Neighborhood, including Powell, Long, Carlton, Alamance and Duke. A few courses are being held in the Koury Athletic Center, Sankey, Global Neighborhood buildings and Koenigsberger Learning Center.

Freshman Joshua Pollack, an elementary education student and teaching fellow, said he and most of his peers feel inconvenienced by the closure and relocations. 

“For example, in my science elementary ed class, normally our professor would have all of his stuff with him in his classroom, but because his office is now in Koury and our class is in one of the business buildings, he doesn’t have access to a lot of his stuff,” Pollack said. 

Still, Pollack is excited to see the renovations, which he said he felt were needed.

The team offices  for the Center for Access & Success, which include Elon’s outreach programs such as It Takes a Village, Elon Academy, Odyssey Scholars and First Generation Student Support Services, have been moved to McCoy Commons 212 in the Oaks Neighborhood. 

The majority of teaching faculty, program leadership, administrative staff and some faculty without fixed offices are now in the second floor offices of the Koury Athletic Center. The Office of the Dean, Teaching Fellows Office and Curriculum Resources Center are being housed in the basement of the Powell Building. 

The School of Education’s Curriculum Resources Center provides education-specific materials such as toys and books for students to bring when working in classrooms, making up over a third of Mooney’s first floor. Some of the resources have been moved to an off-campus storage site, while most were able to remain with Allison Keill, the director of the CRC and associate librarian, in her temporary Powell office, according to Bullock.

 “With a little bit of time and communication, students have still been able to get what they need, when they need it,” Bullock told Elon News Network.

The relocation hasn’t changed the student-faculty relationships and communities, Bullock said. Teaching Fellows Director Erin Hone and Assistant Director Brittany Roberts have made a point to still create a welcoming communal space for education majors despite the move to the Powell basement, complete with couches and candy.

“Everyone has had a really good attitude,” Bullock said of the faculty and staff’s relocation. “The situation is not optimal, but everyone’s met it with a can-do attitude.”