Last year, the administration announced FDU NOW, a campaign meant to improve the College at Florham community, as well as the Metropolitan campus in Teaneck. At the College at Florham, a new library, which is to be called the Monninger Center, will be built, while the Metropolitan campus will get a new student center.
The buildings will be funded entirely by donations from alumni and other organizations. At this time, $30 million has been raised with a goal to raise at least $50 million by the ground-breaking ceremony, according to College at Florham Provost Kenneth Greene.
The plans for the Monninger Center were presented to the Florham community last month in Lenfell Hall. The purpose of the new library is to create space for individual or group work and rooms for seminars. The students will also be provided with the most up-to-date technology and research capabilities, said Greene.
Staples of the current library, like the Orangerie, will be updated accordingly, allowing rooms for students to relax in without worrying about disrupting other students studying.
“The Orangerie will become an area for students to relax in, and the current reference area will be transformed into a 160-seat auditorium,” said Greene.
As of this point, there has been no date set for the ground breaking of the Monninger Center, according to Greene.
“The date depends on how quickly we can get the schematic drawings done of the Monninger Center, and how quickly the Florham Park Board of Adjustment approves our plan,” he said.
Although upperclassmen will probably not see the new library while they are still students here, the FDU NOW campaign is also raising money for endowment, student scholarships and developments in the athletic centers on both campuses, according to Greene. He thinks the College at Florham will benefit, in particular, from the new library.
“The center will improve academic life for current students,” Greene said. “And, hopefully, attract future students.”
MAGGY PATRICK
Published in the May 1, 2008 issue of The Metro