UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As Penn State prepares for the upcoming fall semester, students may notice renovations on the third floor of the HUB-Robeson Center. This project strives to promote student success through equity-focused design, centered in the development of community, belonging and enhanced student engagement. While construction has just begun, the project will continue throughout the 2024-25 academic year and open to student communities in Fall 2025.   

With hundreds of award-winning projects, Perkins & Will is the lead design firm of the approximate 26,000 square-foot project. Throughout the imagining process, the firm engaged with Penn State students to design the third floor to incorporate the needs of the student caucus, and affinity- and identity-based communities, alongside student government organizations, while also incorporating various-sized community gathering spaces, conference rooms and office and storage space for student organizations' materials. The team at Perkins & Will has striven to incorporate the voices of Penn State students past and present into the physical creation of this new space.

“Through this project, we hope to foster a student-centered space that our various communities can use to foster connection, share space, gather, and utilize in support of their own creative and visionary social change efforts,” said Brian Patchcoski, assistant vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for Student Affairs. “This project, inspired and developed with current and former student leaders, strives to enhance and support our students by providing a newly designed, collaborative physical environment, providing a foundation and designated area for new organizations to develop and grow. This space will enhance our student engagement efforts within and outside the HUB-Robeson Center and further our collective commitment to student success and ultimately belonging.”

In addition to the current renovations taking place, and with additional support from the Student Initiated Fee, the Paul Robeson Cultural Center (PRCC) has hired three new community specific positions: a Black Community coordinator, Adline Juste; a Latino/a/x/e Community coordinator, Justus Peña Berman; and an Indigenous, First Nations, Native Community coordinator, Jacinta Garcia. A  search for the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Community coordinator is ongoing.

All four community coordinator roles were created to help reduce administrative burdens in program planning and community formation, while also striving to allow students to succeed both in and outside the classroom working to form intentional communities of support and connection.

When the third-floor renovation project is complete in Fall 2025, these roles will be housed alongside adjacent student organizations, inclusive of; the Middle Eastern and North African Caucus (MENA), LION Pride Caucus, Black Caucus, Latino Caucus, APIDA Caucus, the Indigenous Peoples’ Student Association (IPSA), and Queer & Trans People of Color (QTPOC).

These initiatives, striving to create connection through physical space and direct student community support, align with the strategic vision of the PRCC.

“Over the last year, we, in partnership with our HUB-Robeson Center colleagues, have encouraged intentional interactions with our student leaders alongside their respective organizations to solidify this design and overall project, while also working to foster a supportive and responsive vision that will inform the strategy amongst the new community support coordinator positions,” said Evan Williams, director of the PRCC. “Through the evolving physical space, and the addition of these direct student support roles, I believe our collective team alongside our student leaders will only complement and further existing efforts in fostering community and enhancing student engagement throughout the HUB-Robeson Center."