The newly renovated Martin Y. Tang Welcome Center at the Noyes Lodge on North Campus, scheduled to open June 1, will be “the first stop” at Cornell for prospective students, parents and visitors, according to the University.
“The creation of a welcome center has been under discussion for many years, even decades long,” said Jason Cole, associate vice president for University relations.
The starting point of the general campus tour will also be relocated from Day Hall to the Tang Welcome Center in early June, according to Cole.
“The location is very representative. It highlights and underscores the natural beauty of our campus there [with the view of] Beebe Lake,” Cole said. “It will provide more space and it will be more comfortable to our visitors.”
Courtesy of Cornell University
The center will include a “Great Room” overlooking Beebe Lake.
The Great Room on the upper level will be both a space for visitors to gather and an exhibition “highlighting the University’s history and mission,” according to Cole.
According to Cole, the exhibition will feature six monoliths with texts and photographs, each with a theme representing an aspect of the University. These include Ezra Cornell, Cornell in New York State, humanities, research, “…any person …any study,” and “life on the hill.”
A 3-D-printed replica of Ezra Cornell’s telegraph, Rover Athena from the Cornell Mars Rover Project, some Big Red hockey gear and Rich Medina’s ’92 D.J. equipment from the Cornell Hip Hop Collection will also be displayed, Cole said.
The Great Room will connect to the 840-square-foot outdoor Treman Terrace, overlooking Beebe Lake and the western portion of Cornell Botanic Gardens. There will also be a reception area, a space for the Office of Visitor Relations, the University switchboard and a conference room.
The $6 million project was announced in October 2016, after Martin Tang ’70, trustee emeritus, and his sisters, Nadine Tang and Leslie Tang Schilling, donated $3 million to the University in tandem with Atlantic Philanthropies.
In June 2016, The Atlantic Philanthropies — a foundation created by Charles Feeney ’56 — donated $16.25 million in grants to the Center for the Study of Inequality, the International Center on Capital Punishment and a new University welcome center. Noyes Lodge previously housed the Language Resource Center, which has now been relocated to Stimson Hall.