Trevecca Nazarene University made $3 million worth of improvements in preparation for the new school year, ranging from remodeling the on-campus coffee shop to updating the university’s Wi-Fi. 

A complete renovation of the Greathouse Science Building third floor added new Physician Assistant faculty offices, a conference room, and three PA exam rooms. This completes a multi-year, $5 million renovation project to update the building.

The popular on-campus coffee shop, formerly known as Abba Java, opened this school year with an expanded seating area and a new name, Nineteen|01, in reference to Trevecca’s founding year. The university created additional seating by enclosing the existing porch on the back of the Bud Robinson Building.

“With continued traditional undergrad enrollment increasing, we decided to enclose the porch to expand seating in hopes that more people would take advantage of the grab-and-go option and enjoy lunch in the new space,” said David Caldwell, executive vice president for Finance and Administration.

In addition to the old Abba Java coffee space, Nineteen|01 coffee has added another location in Waggoner Library in place of a few of the main floor periodicals racks. A topic of discussion for a year, Caldwell says the university went forward with the project this summer in hopes of creating a new gathering space for students.  

Trevecca also updated its entire Intranet/Wi-Fi system this summer.

“Each generation of student brings more electronics to campus,” Caldwell said. “I believe the average college male brings five-plus devices that connect to Wi-Fi. We increased the size of our Internet connection last year to one  gig, but because we had older Wi-Fi access points, switches, servers and fiber optics, the average Wi-Fi speed in classrooms was very slow.”

With three miles of new fiber optic cable in place, officials expect the $850,000-project to provide faster Wi-Fi speed and improve outdoor coverage, even at the athletic fields.

There are also more housing options to meet the demands of a growing student population.

Buildings A and C or the University Terrace Apartments — once used to house married students and employees — were converted to housing for male upperclassmen. The updates include new tile, carpet, and bathrooms. Georgia Hall’s bathrooms also got a facelift, complete with new tile, showers, and sinks.

Other student housing improvement include bigger laundry rooms. Enlarged laundry rooms — with more washers and dryers — mean students living in Shingler, Redford, and Georgia residence halls won’t spend as much time waiting for an open machine.

Outdoors, students can now enjoy an improved soccer area. For years, the hill near the center of the pitch has been a favorite place to take in a Trevecca soccer game. By removing part of the hillside, building retaining walls, and adding bleachers, Trevecca created a new space for soccer fans, all designed to create a better viewing experience.

Additional improvements include a new group study area and new offices for admissions personnel on the lower level of the library, a new location for the K-12 library on the third floor of the Mackey Building, where Trevecca’s School of Education is housed, and a new commercial printer in the Copy Center, which will allow it to act as an on-site print shop, handling most of the university’s printing needs. 

--Trevecca Nazarene University