Community Will Gather to Unveil Restoration and Expansion of Oldest Academic Building on Campus
Image by Ed Brennen
09/27/2021
Contact for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu
Media Advisory
When: Wednesday, Sept. 29, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Coburn Hall, South Campus, 850 Broadway St., Lowell. Contact UMass Lowell media relations for directions and parking information.
What: Members of the UMass Lowell community will gather to officially reopen Coburn Hall, the oldest academic building on campus now reborn through a $47 million renovation, restoration and expansion project.
The building, which dates back to the 1890s, was constructed as the home of the Lowell Normal School, founded to train teachers for the growing city during the American Industrial Revolution. For many years, it was the only building on what is now UMass Lowell’s bustling South Campus and it has been home to numerous academic departments.
With the restoration of the building complete, Coburn Hall once again is home to the university’s School of Education, along with the Department of Psychology and research space for work in fields including autism education. The reconfigured 79,000-square-foot building includes a 15,000-square-foot addition and new modern features and technologies while retaining the character that has made it an enduring symbol of the university's history, including a newly restored ballroom and wall mural that dates to the 1930s.
Event speakers are expected to include UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney; UMass President Marty Meehan; Luis Falcon, dean of UMass Lowell’s College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; UMass Lowell student Michael Aloisi, an education major from Townsend and president of the university’s chapter of the Student Education Association; and alumna Joan Marchessault, who holds a UMass Lowell doctorate in leadership in schooling and serves on the Chancellor’s Advisory Council. Marchessault is the co-founder and principal of Strategic Leadership Group Inc. in New Castle, N.H. Also expected to attend are state Rep. Vanna Howard, Lowell City Manager Eileen Donoghue and Lowell School Superintendent Joel Boyd.