August 4, 2003, Bloomfield, NJ -- For 45 years, Talbott Hall housed the Bloomfield College Library and was a hub of campus activity.
Now, after an extensive renovation, and the construction of a new library on the corner of Liberty Street and Oakland Avenue, Talbott Hall is getting ready to assume a new role – as a center for technology.
The 14,000-square foot building located on the College Quadrangle will officially re-open in time for the start of the Fall 2003 semester on September 3. It will house the Bloomfield College Institute for Technology & Professional Studies as well as the Office of Information Technology.
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“Two of our in-house technology network professionals, Laszlo Marshall and James Brady, designed the infrastructure and the wiring plan for the entire building. We’re very excited and proud of that,” said Robert Estler, Vice President for Finance and Administration.
According to Brady, a network/communications specialist at the College, the task of designing the wiring plan for Talbott Hall was both challenging and rewarding.
“From a construction standpoint, they basically started Talbott Hall from scratch. We had to do the same thing from a networking and computer perspective,” said Brady. “We started from the blueprints, worked closely with the architect and the contractors, and figured out the most efficient ways for the data and traffic to be routed.”
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Marshall, the director of telecommunications and network, says he is very pleased with the way the project has progressed.
“Talbott’s connection to the rest of the network is the quickest that’s available, and the amount of information that can travel back and forth is really substantial,” he said. “The classrooms will be very sophisticated. There will be flat panel screens for the computer workstations, and very fast Internet access.”
Talbott’s main floor will feature two state-of-the-art classrooms which will be used by students in the Internet Technology degree program in the Division of Natural Science & Mathematics as well as the College’s Cisco certification program. The technology Help Desk will assume a prominent place on this level and will be flanked by offices for Information Technology personnel as well as the Institute for Technology & Professional Studies. A large stainless steel “B.C.” logo will be embedded in the stone floor of the main lobby.
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The lower level will house classrooms featuring laptop and desktop computers, a conference room, a general computer lab, and a café lounge with vending machines and comfortable seating. A web-based radio station, which is part of the College’s Communications program, will occupy the lower mezzanine level, along with office space for the Institute of Technology & Professional Studies. Additional office and storage space will be located in the upper mezzanine level.
The upper level will feature a classroom for the College’s Sun certification program, as well as two other classrooms.
“We replaced all of the windows in Talbott Hall as well as the wiring and the plumbing. Essentially, this is an entirely new building inside,” said Vice President Estler.
Thanks to elevators and newly-installed chair lifts, Talbott Hall will be fully accessible.
John Fallon Architects of Bloomfield provided the design for the renovation of Talbott Hall. Construction was handled by Del-Sano General Contracting in Union with Neil Postighone of the Specialty Management Company in Glen Ridge serving as the construction manager for the project. Funding for the renovation of Talbott Hall was provided through the New Jersey Capital Improvement Fund and College bond issue.
Under the direction of Vice President Peter Jeong, Bloomfield College’s Institute for Technology & Professional Studies serves adult working professionals, the corporate arena, and the international marketplace. The Institute offers non-credit programs for the domestic market and collaborative credit programs for the overseas market through partnerships with international universities. As a leader in technology training, Bloomfield College was the first four-year college in New Jersey to introduce Microsoft, Cisco and Sun certification programs. The College’s Advanced Technology Institute is the largest IT training center in New Jersey higher education.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for Talbott Hall will take place in the fall at
a date to be determined.
