Department Lounges Create Study and Collaboration Spaces

Walking through the Nelson Memorial Library, groups huddled around tables and students filling up library cubicles are indicators that spring quarter is underway. For students at PUC’s Angwin campus, a busy library where concentration may waiver is not the only option. Instead, students can explore the multiple department lounges that not only offer a place to study, but also provides a chance to take a break and interact with fellow majors.

Most recently, Stauffer Hall, home to the department of English, renovated a seminar room into a welcoming, cozy study space. Eric Anderson, a former professor of history, generously donated the lounge’s furniture to the department to create a study lounge for students. Department Chair Cynthia Westerbeck describes the study lounge in Stauffer as “a nice central location for both students and faculty to get tea, enjoy conversation, and study.” It is named after the most famous poet and novelist to graduate from PUC, Arna Bontemps, whose name fittingly means “good times.” Bontemps was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance and became acquaintances of other active renaissance men and women such as Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes.

The department of visual arts lounge fosters a creative workspace for students, with a chalkboard wall available for students to write and draw on in Fisher Hall, while the department of modern languages sweeps students away with stringed lights and comfy furniture in their study lounge in Irwin Hall, which was installed last year. The historic building is also home to two more department lounges for business and communication majors on the second floor. Both lounges offer tea and hot cocoa, along with the occasional treat to fuel up students while they study.

Paulin Hall provides a place for music majors to study, eat, and interact with one another in a small, but cozy lounge. The whimsical study area also features a clock that appropriately plays clips of classical music every hour.

As spring quarter continues, students can flock to their favorite lounge and enjoy the perks each department has to offer, which will remain open throughout the school year. Though each department has their own lounge, students of any major are welcome to settle into a new study space and enjoy what the lounges have to offer.