Campus Facilities
The campus consists of 84 acres of grassland and woods extending on both slopes of the knoll from which the College takes its name. Thanks to the foresight of Dr. William F. Curtis, who was president of the College when it moved to its present site in 1915, the grounds are adorned with mature and beautiful examples of more than 140 species of trees from all over the world. Cedar Crest’s tree collection is officially designated the William F. Curtis Arboretum and is registered with the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta.
Large outdoor sculptures by several notable artists are located on campus.
Allen House: The former president’s home is now the college’s center for global engagement and diversity, which includes the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of Global Initiatives and International Programs, and international student services.
Alumnae Hall and Lees Memorial Chapel (ALH): Alumnae Hall contains classrooms, an auditorium, a small 75 seat theatre, faculty offices, a video studio and editing lab (used in the Communication Department) and Lees Memorial Chapel. A notable feature of the Chapel is the group of stained glass windows portraying ten women who made lasting impressions upon civilization. The art department has studios and faculty offices in Alumnae Hall, including a new state-of-the-art art therapy studio
Art Galleries: Art at Cedar Crest is an integral part of daily life. The gallery system allows the opportunity to showcase a wide variety of exhibitions at locations throughout the campus. Our primary exhibition space is the Lachaise Gallery located in the Miller Family Building. In addition to this exhibition space we have the Capstone Gallery in Alumnae Hall which showcases student work and student curated exhibitions. The campus, a nationally registered arboretum, is a site for outdoor sculpture, as well as historically significant pieces on permanent loan. The activities of the galleries are intimately woven into the programming of the art department and reach throughout the campus community and beyond.
The gallery system at Cedar Crest College is an educational arm of the art department and a public agent for the college. The mission of the campus galleries is to present exhibitions that introduce our community to innovative ideas and timely concepts about the practice of making art .Our exhibition programming leans toward contemporary art that directly relates to the art major curriculum. At the heart of the liberal arts, the gallery system becomes a vehicle for inspiring dialogue across academic disciplines.
Blaney Hall (BHA): The central structure on the campus Blaney Hall, re-named in honor of President Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney in May 2006, houses administrative offices of the president, provost, chief financial officer, institutional advancement, admissions, finance, human resources, marketing & communications, the School of Adult and Graduate Education, financial aid, alumnae affairs, and student accounts. Three multimedia classrooms and two computer labs are also located in this building.
Butz Hall: Butz Hall contains space for resident students, the center for diversity and inclusion, the student newspaper The Crestiad, the forensic speech team, and the college radio station (WCCC Radio).
Campus Technology: The campus technology environment includes 12 computer labs and 37 classrooms. Internet access, e-mail and shared resources (such as application software and laser printers) are available to students through their campus network accounts. Multifunction color printing and scanning is available across campus to students via their ID card. Wireless internet access is available throughout the campus, including the residence halls. Computer classrooms and labs are found in academic departments and the residence halls. The Allen Center for Nutrition, located in the Miller Family Building, has a classroom/lab with 24 stations. The psychology labs are located in Curtis Hall. The Hamilton Boulevard Building hosts one 10-station computer lab, one 30 station computer lab and 5 technology-equipped classrooms. A computer lab in the Dorothy Rider Pool Science Center serves students in the biological sciences. Funded by a grant from the Keck Foundation, a lab for computational biology and bioinformatics resides in the Miller Family Building. A Convergence Computing Lab in the Cressman Library is available to all Communications and Art majors. Designated computer labs are staffed by trained student consultants, who gain valuable work experience, while working alongside Information Technology staff to provide computer support for the campus community.
Cable Communications: The College maintains a text-based College information channel, which is accessible from every cabled television on campus. The audio portion of the channel includes the student-run radio station. Additional channels are available for in-house programming. These are used for centralized audio/visual distribution (e.g., of taped lectures and events), and are linked to the College’s distance learning facility. A campus satellite dish receives a broad range of educational transmissions (both national and international) and can be received from any cable television on campus.
College Bookstore: The College Bookstore is located on Level I of the Tompkins College Center. It offers an excellent selection of imprinted clothing and gifts, textbooks and a wide variety of selected reading material with the capability of special ordering, as well as art and school supplies, gifts, snacks and sundries.
Cressman Library: The Cressman Library reflects the College's commitment to liberal arts education and online information technologies. The building houses not only the library resources but also the Student Success Center of Academic Services and Information Technology support for students at the Help Desk. Additional spaces include the Communication Department’s Media Convergence Laboratory with 20 iMac computers and the Marjorie Wright Miller Poet’s Corner houses the library’s collection of poetry by American women. The library offers students a variety of study options, access to resources and technology, and academic support.
The open-stack structure located on the lower levels is an integral unit of the Cedar Crest library system with collections of 121,031 print volumes and over 157,705 e-books; as well as 13,685 current serials titles, and 10,305 audiovisual materials. The Education Resource Room holds the curriculum library; a collection of juvenile fiction, non-fiction and K-12 textbooks.
The WorldCat Local online catalog provides computer-supported identification of the holdings of the Cedar Crest library. Affiliations with the LVAIC consortium and daily document delivery services link the resources of more than two million volumes for student and faculty study and research. The Library uses network affiliation with LYRASIS, OCLC, and the Internet to extend its access to collections in libraries in the Lehigh Valley, the United States, and worldwide.
Curtis Hall (CUR): Faculty offices for management, information systems, mathematics, economics, education, psychology and social sciences (anthropology, criminal justice, religious studies, and social work) are located in Curtis Hall. Psychology labs on the ground floor include the Human Social Cognition and Behavior Lab (HSCB Lab), Psychophysiology Laboratory, and Animal Learning and Behavior Laboratory. The Registrar’s Office, the Roland and Doris Sigal Center for Business and Technology, the Office of Global Initiatives, and Information Technology are also located in Curtis Hall. The second floor contains the Alumnae Museum and classrooms. The third floor houses Honor students and two multimedia classrooms. Curtis also houses the health and counseling services center and the specially equipped Inez Cantrell Donley Education Demonstration Classroom on the ground level.
The Office of Information Technology staff offices are located on the bottom level of Curtis Hall and the Technology Employee Help Desk is located in Curtis 114.
Donald P. Miller Family Building (MIL): The College’s Miller Family Building for art, science and peace, includes a genetic engineering lab, physics lab, physics/crime scene reconstruction lab, chemical instrumentation lab, bioinformatics, geographical information systems (GIS), and computational biology computer lab, The Allen Center for Nutrition, a state-of-the-art food laboratory and the Lachaise Gallery.
Dorothy Rider Pool Science Center (SCI): The Pool Science Center is a modern classroom and laboratory building arranged around a central landscaped court. It houses instructional and research facilities for biological sciences, chemistry and physics, with laboratories for course-related and independent work in all fields. The biological sciences department includes fully-equipped genetic engineering laboratories, cichlid fish brain and behavior room, environmental conservation laboratory, neuroscience laboratory, anatomy and physiology laboratory, and greenhouse. It has instruments for electrophoresis, electrophysiology, tissue culture, high-speed and ultra centrifugation, nanodrop and standard spectrophotometers, phase, fluorescence, and confocal microscopy. Additional equipment includes a DNA sequencer and equipment for standard and real time PCR. The chemical and physical sciences department contains most modern instrumentation methods, including gas and liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry, scanning electron and infrared microscopy, UV-visible, FT-infrared, Near-infrared, atomic absorption and fluorescence spectrophotometry, equipment for conducting polymerase chain reaction and genetic typing analyses, and computer techniques.
Hamilton Boulevard Building (HBB): The Hamilton Boulevard Building is approximately 33,000 square feet, encompassing six spacious classrooms, a computer lab, an exercise physiology lab and both undergraduate and graduate simulation space. Opened in 2017, the graduate simulation space boasts a brand new, state-of-the-art simulated operating room, two high-fidelity patient simulation rooms, a fully furnished examination room, a sizeable conference room for debriefing, and a skills lab containing exam beds, task trainers, and clinical equipment. The undergraduate simulation space houses four skills labs, two high-fidelity patient simulation rooms, and a community health room, all equipped with cutting-edge A/V hardware dedicated to enhancing the student’s educational experience.
Harold and Miriam Oberkotter Center for Health and Wellness (OBC): The Harold and Miriam Oberkotter Center for Health and Wellness (OBC) features a forensic science/microbiology lab, a biochemistry lab, a 110-seat state-of-the-art multi-media classroom, faculty offices, and a student lounge.
Hartzel Hall (HHL): Hartzel Hall contains faculty offices for the Department of Communication, and for the Department of History, Literature, and Languages (history, english, spanish, political science, philosophy, writing). It also contains a language laboratory, the honors program center, a multimedia room, a ceramics studio, and a paper-making studio.
Lees Hall (LEE): Seating capacity for athletic activities is more than 300; for other events, 750. Other facilities in Lees Hall include a fitness center, athletic training room and offices for the athletic department staff. Fitness Center hours of operation are 5:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Moore Hall: This residence hall provides housing to students.
Playing Fields: Large areas of the campus have been arranged to provide for various outdoor sports. Tennis, basketball and volleyball courts are usable most of the year. Regulation fields for field hockey, lacrosse, soccer and softball are located behind Lees Hall. The cross country course extends throughout the campus and adjacent parks.
President’s Home: The president’s home faces the campus on College Drive across from Moore Hall.
Rodale Aquatic Center for Civic Health: The Rodale Aquatic Center offers swimming, fitness and wellness classes to the College and adds a major health resource to the Lehigh Valley community. The facility includes a 25’ x 40’ warm-water exercise pool, a 25-yard x 8-lane fitness/competitive pool, locker rooms, meeting spaces, and parking areas designed for accessibility.
Steinbright Hall: The Dance Studio (STE) includes sprung dance floors, extensive barres, two studios equipped with full studio-length mirrored walls, faculty offices and changing facilities. Resident students are also housed in Steinbright Hall.
Tompkins College Center (TCC): The Tompkins College Center’s floor-to-ceiling windows frame the magnificent park-like views of the Cedar Crest campus. This building is centrally located and is a popular place for many campus activities and provides facilities for student organizations, meetings, lectures, cultural events, receptions, movies, banquets and social gatherings. It houses Dining Services, as well as the Bookstore, Conference Services, Career Planning, Performing Arts, and Samuels Theatre. The ground level of the building includes The Perch, a student lounge equipped with computers, tables and chairs, soft furniture, a wide-screen TV and kitchen facilities; all of which are available 24/7 for student use. Also on the ground floor are vending machines and an ATM.
