Come spring 2013, the students and faculty of Grand Valley State University College of Education will no longer be scattered around the Eberhard Center and will embrace their new, more spacious home within DeVos. The COE will be moving into some of the 3rd and the 4th floor areas of DeVos where the Seidman College of Business is currently located.

The majority of the staff and faculty of the college are located within the Eberhard Center on Pew Campus, with some faculty at the Holland and Traverse City sites, but none on the Allendale campus, said Bonnie Bowen of the COE dean’s office.

Currently, the college’s staff members are found on almost every floor of Eberhard. “We have staff on the 1st, and 5th through 9th floors now,” Bowen said, adding the move is a response to a need of more space. “Right now we are at complete capacity. This new building will closely align (our staff) and departmentalize faculty.”

An advantage with the new DeVos building is the potential for expansion. Bowen said the COE has a large number of adjunct faculty members, and DeVos will provide space for them.
While space may be an issue for faculty, the COE also needed the make the move to ensure the privacy for its students.

“Faculty on floors 8 and 9 don’t have fully enclosed offices. (We wanted to make sure) students getting advising and having private conversations with staff are kept confidential,” Bowen said.

Although the move will affect the college’s faculty and staff, students may not be as affected.
The COE is switching buildings, but the department will still be primarily located on Pew Campus and many students will continue to have classes in Allendale.

Faculty within the college work to provide students on both campuses opportunities for and access to COE programs and assistance.

Thomas Owens, director of the student information and services center at the COE, said the distance between the College of Education and its students isn’t a great problem.

To ensure strong communication between people on each campus, faculty members use technology to stay in touch and connected with their students, Owens said. But the COE also works with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which initially advises potential education students.

“We have a great working relationship in the area of advising with the CLAS Advising Center on the Allendale Campus,” Owens said. “Since we work so closely with these faculty and staff members, our students receive excellent advising through their years here at GVSU.”

Along with the move, some elements of the COE will also be making changes. “The curriculum materials library, which had a location in both Allendale and the downtown campus will be located only on the downtown campus,” said assistant professor Diane Clark. “Some materials will remain available on the Allendale campus, but transportation between the Allendale campus and downtown has been working well for our students.”

While a final move date is not official, Bowen said it is expected to occur sometime in late May or early June after the Seidman College of Business moves into its newly constructed building.
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