SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Before a storm rolled in Thursday night, Penn State Schuylkill's newly renovated Keifer-Jones building was dedicated during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The honored guests, Allen Keifer, president of the campus advisory board, and Joseph H. Jones Sr., a long-time standing board member, were introduced by Madlyn L. Hanes, vice president for commonwealth campuses, and Kelly M. Austin, Penn State Schuylkill chancellor.
Hanes said that Keifer, who is an independent investment adviser who lives outside of Schuylkill Haven, serves on numerous boards and is dedicated to not only the growth of the campus, but also the Schuylkill community.
She said that Jones lives in Pottsville, has served on the advisory board for more than 25 years, has been active in community service and that his board membership awards are too numerous to mention.
"We are so grateful for your dedication and support over the years," Hanes said. "We're honored to have your names visibly associated and recognized with this campus forever and ever."
Austin added that it is the dedication and commitment of the advisory board members over the years that made the campus what it is today.
Keifer and Jones then both gave short speeches thanking the campus community for the honor.
"I truly am honored," Keifer said. "It's humbling."
Keifer added that the advisory board exists for the sole purpose of supporting the Schuykill campus and that thanks to the board, the students in the county have a world-class research university right in their backyards.
"I thank you for this honor," Jones said.
In a previous story in The Republican-Herald archives, Cheryl Holland, director of business services at Penn State Schuylkill, said the campus advisory board bought the building from Schuylkill County in 2008, along with the 1912 Building, which has since been demolished.
The building was previously used as office space and was renovated to be used as administration offices.
It is now the Office of the Chancellor, Office of Development and Alumni Relations and Office of Continuing Education and Marketing.
The new name of the building was decided to honor Keifer and Jones for all of the work they've done for the campus and advisory board since they started building the campus Nittany Apartments in 1986.
The advisory board also built four additional buildings in 1989, 1991, 1997 and 2010, to accommodate a total of 320 students.
Renovations to the building, which started in August, included the installation of a new boiler, new wiring throughout the entire building, a telephone system wired to connect it with the campus telephone system, running fiber optic cable for computers, construction of a new conference room, demolition of a second floor and the installation of an elevator.
"It was in rough shape," said Jerry Bowman, manager of human resources and coordinator of public information, while giving a tour of the building Thursday night.
With the elevator included, all of the renovations were to bring the building, which was built sometime in the early 1900s although Penn State Schuylkill has no actual record of when it was built, up to code.