As an Arkansas Tech University senior and a resident assistant for multiple semesters, Sylvie Armstrong knows the residence halls on campus as well as any student can.
She is a fan of the newly-renovated Jones Residence Hall.
“I love it,” said Armstrong, a graphic design major from Cabot. “It’s the best dorm that I have lived in. The space here is really conducive to community building. The lobby on my floor is a cozy nook in front of my door. The bathrooms are gorgeous. I keep hearing the residents say it’s like a hotel. It just feels very put together.”
ATU will celebrate the renovation project with a grand re-opening event at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, at Jones Residence Hall, 1804 N. Boulder Ave., on the ATU campus in Russellville. The event will be open to the public.
The building is named for Charles Jones. She taught psychology and education courses at Arkansas Tech from 1938-71.
Jones served her country in the United Service Organizations (USO) during the final two years of World War II (1944-45) and was deployed to British Guiana (later known as Guyana).
On campus, she was head of the psychology department from the time Arkansas Tech became a four-year college until her retirement. Jones wrote the $26,000 grant proposal that established Arkansas Tech’s social and rehabilitation services program, which began operation in 1969. At the beginning of the program, there were only 12 others like it in the United States.
A graduate of Galloway Women’s College and the University of Arkansas, Jones taught in the public schools at Blytheville, Brookland, Cotton Plant and Joiner before she was hired at Arkansas Tech.
The Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees voted in August 1966 to name the forthcoming women’s residence hall in Jones’ honor. The building was dedicated in November 1967. Jones died on April 24, 1979. She was 78.
Jones Residence Hall was already under consideration for a thorough renovation project in February 2021 when a record-breaking cold snap led to burst pipes inside the building. The damage caused ATU to temporarily close Jones Residence Hall and expand the scope of the renovation.
The ATU Board of Trustees approved funding for the Jones Residence Hall renovation in May 2021 and the project began on Sept. 30, 2022.
“The Jones Residence Hall renovation project was really a complete gut job,” said Drew Dickey, ATU director of facilities management. “The project started with a demo contractor coming into the building and taking it back to the block structural walls and starting over. Our design team didn’t consider the original layout, aside from any structural walls that couldn’t be moved, and designed a totally new interior layout.”
The scope of the project included interior demolition and abatement, plumbing and drain relocations, complete re-design of the interior spaces (lobbies, rooms, apartments, kitchens, study areas, etc.), standing new walls in newly redesigned spaces, replacing interior finishes (floor covering, wall covering, ceiling system, etc.), addition of a fire sprinkler system and installation of an elevator.
Total cost for the Jones Residence Hall renovation was $9 million.
“Any total renovation project is a challenge, and the Jones Residence Hall project was no different,” said Dickey. “From beginning to end, the team continually uncovered new hurdles that made it challenging to deliver a project that was on time and on budget. Thankfully, Arkansas Tech had good partners that were there to assist every step of the way. SCM Architects and Alessi Keyes Construction were both wonderful to work with and really went above and beyond to get creative when obstacles arose. I am extremely happy with how this project turned out, and I am excited for the impact it will have on our students for years to come.”
The renovated Jones Residence Hall partially opened to host university guests during the April 2024 total solar eclipse, but the fall 2024 semester marks the first time the building has been fully open during a school year since the February 2021 damage.
“A lot of the residents like the community spaces and the colors,” said Armstrong. “There’s a different color in the design for each floor, so that’s a cute touch. We have a great opportunity to do small things often, such as movie nights or nights when we bake something together. If you live in Jones Hall, I think you’re lucky. If you make the most of it, I think you can have a really great time living here.”
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