Building A Space Where Community Can Thrive

“The common space in Atherton has been a well-recognized problem. Nobody really went there. When the idea was presented to change that and make it a useful, open space, people were really excited about it.” 

In the summer of 2022, Somdatta Basu was finalizing preparations for making the move from high school to her first year at Penn State and Schreyer Honors College. A recent graduate of South Fayette Township High School, Basu’s interests in math and science had her eager to get to University Park and begin studying aerospace engineering. As a resident of Atherton Hall, she would also find herself immersed in the College’s living-learning community. 

Along with thousands of others, Basu was about to face the typical challenges presented to first-year students; navigating campus, adjusting to collegiate academics, living away from their parents and, most importantly, finding a sense of belonging in their new home. Little did she know at the time, that by the end of the academic year she would take on an important role on a project designed to enhance the sense of belonging for thousands of Scholars at University Park.  

During his first year as Dean of Schreyer, Patrick Mather made his presence felt throughout the Honors College community. He participated in workshops with student organization leaders. He played guitar and sang at events like Founders Day and Schreyer Student Council coffeehouses. He wrote entries in the Schreyer Scholars’ weekly e-newsletter. He worked with Scholars in his research lab. He taught in the Presidential Leadership Academy. He invited both staff and Scholars to join him on runs, bike rides, and hikes.  

Through it all, he took care to have conversations that helped him understand where changes could be made to better support Scholars’ success during their time at Schreyer and Penn State. One area that came into focus fairly quickly was the College’s home on the University Park campus – Atherton Hall and its common area. 

“Several pieces of the vision ‘puzzle’ came together at the same time in the summer of 2022,” said Mather. “[They were] our collective and growing emphasis on community and members’ sense-of-belonging, feedback on opportunities for improvement from current Scholars about existing common areas, and observations around campus and beyond of the positive impact that architectural and interior design can have on people.” 

The picture revealed by those ‘puzzle’ pieces that Mather referenced turned out to be a renovation project to transform Atherton Hall’s ground floor lobby. The goal for the project that became known as “Belonging by Design” was to create a welcoming, open public space that helps Scholars feel they are meant to be here, and this place is meant for them. 

Mather, who describes himself as the project’s ‘chief cheerleader,’ made a decision early on that significantly influenced the project, from how the team was formed to the finished product. 

“I generally assume that ideas about how to do things in our college and at Penn State are enhanced by student engagements,” Mather said. “At the very beginning of Belonging by Design we brought together a focus group of five or six Scholars and the project’s architects, and later when designs were ready for critical review, we brought Scholars back to the table.” 

That critical review session, one that Mather said made him feel excited and nervous, took place in late January 2023. While he was there to provide feedback and help evaluate the project’s progress, Mather wasn’t leading that night’s event. The responsibility fell, instead, to Basu. 

During her first semester, Basu came across the job posting for Mather’s Student Leadership Intern. She applied, interviewed, was officially hired over winter break, and started in her new role when she returned to campus following the holidays. One of their earliest conversations left Basu feeling intrigued and a bit out of her comfort zone. 

“He told me about the Atherton Hall renovation that was going on and asked if I wanted to jump on the project,” she said. “To that point, the extent of my design experience was painting my bedroom. I felt a bit unsure because [Belonging by Design] wasn’t a math or science thing where I’m more confident. 

“Even though I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, my interest was piqued because of the people I’d get to work with, I could develop some new skills and knowledge, and help to renovate Atherton Hall, where I live.” 

As Basu settled into her new role and her work on the project, she began talking with her fellow Scholars about their feelings on Atherton’s common spaces and what changes they’d like to see. She said that a shared excitement quickly built around the opportunity to create a brighter, more open and welcoming feel in the ground floor lobby.  

That excitement brought a group of engaged Scholars to the critical review session where they got to speak directly to the project’s architect and furniture designer. Along with giving voice to the types of lights, carpeting, and texture on the walls that they wanted, the students advocated for some amenities that were fairly uncommon until recently. 

“One of the topics we covered was better access to charging our laptops and phones. So, we decided that we are going to have powered furniture,” said Basu. “We also talked about wanting more light and more of an open feel which led us to picking frosted glass walls for the offices and study rooms.” 

For students to have the opportunity to make those types of decisions alongside the College’s leadership was both welcomed and unexpected for Basu.  

“Coming into college [that level of student input] was something that I hadn’t really seen before,” she said. “I joined on in the middle of Belonging by Design and was sort of surprised when Dean Mather said, ‘The students said this and that’s why we changed the design this way.’ I really love how proactive Schreyer is about including students in this whole process.” 

When asked to define what belonging means to him, fifth-year Scholar Ary Narayanamangalam was succinct in his answer. 

“Belonging means I feel welcome, accepted, and valued. It enables my everyday success,” he said.  

Set to graduate in fall 2023, Nararyanamangalam is a former Schreyer Student Council president who found his belonging early on at the Honors College. As his time at Penn State draws to a close, he is keen on ensuring that Scholars who follow him are afforded the same, if not better, opportunity. 

“I noticed that I found a lot of the people I felt like I belonged with because of the physical space I was in,” he said. “In my first year at Penn State, I found belonging through the amazing friends I met as I worked in the GLOBE [living-learning community] in Simmons Hall. 

“The GLOBE’s structure for public space and conversation made it so easy to meet other like-minded people that I instantly connected with many of the scholars I met there. I see that same potential in the Belonging by Design Project to create a space within Atherton for Scholars to meet and thrive together.” 

Narayanamangalam has moved off campus and out of GLOBE housing, yet he says those friendships from his first year remain, as does the sense of belonging that they fostered.  

“Creating a space within Atherton for Scholars to meet and thrive together is bound to help them find and spend time with people they feel like they belong with,” Narayanamangalam said. “It might be those bonds that make them feel like they belong no matter where they are at Penn State, physically.” 

Like Basu, Narayanamangalam is drawn to the sciences, and he is double majoring in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering. While a design-based project might not have seemed like a natural fit, he was eager for the opportunity to get involved when he was approached because he felt a “responsibility to help get more Scholars engaged in a project that’s bound to shape daily student life for years to come.” 

Narayanamangalam helped Basu organize the critical review session and that meeting left him with an important takeaway that could help him well beyond his time at Penn State. 

“I realized the value of paying attention to detail among all the major design changes,” he said. “While the other students and I were going through some of the visual demos during the meeting, I immediately noticed how even the smallest design choices – like color shade and texture – had an immense impact on the mood and atmosphere created by the renovations. 

“It was so important to be very intentional and specific with the decision-making around the design choices so that we could truly optimize and fine-tune the student experience that resulted from it.” 

Before he graduates and moves on to the next chapter of his journey, Narayanamangalam will have a few months to experience firsthand how those decisions impact his fellow Schreyer Scholars. Wherever life takes him next, though, his work on Belonging by Design will influence how he looks at physical spaces. 

“They are often the basic infrastructure for creating a community in the first place, and enhancing physical spaces can foster even more growth within that community,” he said. “As I’m about to start my professional career, I find myself giving more importance to the nature of physical spaces as I venture through places. I’m crossing my fingers that down the road I find something like what Penn State and the Honors College have provided me.” 

Schreyer Honors College’s leadership structure features a position that focuses on creating a fair, impartial, and welcoming environment where Scholars can live and learn. Lynette Yarger has been with the College since 2019 and works as its associate dean for equity and inclusion. She is keenly aware of how crucial a sense of belonging is to a student’s overall success in college. 

“Successful students seek help, advice, guidance, and resources. Implicitly, this requires a level of vulnerability,” Yarger noted. “When the sense of belonging is absent, it makes it difficult to seek guidance from others. The college experience is more challenging when you don’t have your support network.”   

Yarger highlighted that the Honors College strategically designs programs like SHO TIME and Donuts with the Dean, and supports student organizations like Gender and Sexual Diversity in Schreyer and the International and Multicultural Association of Schreyer Scholars to help the students build their support networks. She’s encouraged by the recent focus on creating a physical space that is meant to bring together people within Schreyer. 

“Our facilities must be accessible, welcoming, and accommodating to various needs and abilities to create a sense of belonging for all individuals,” she said. “I’d like to see Scholars and our staff host regular events and activities that encourage participation and interaction in Atherton’s redesigned lobby, along with all our shared spaces. Mixed usage of our spaces encourages staff and students to live, work, and socialize within the same area, fostering a strong sense of community.” 

Even though some portions of Belonging by Design are still wrapping up, new and returning Scholars had their first chance to make use of the new Atherton ground floor lobby as they arrived at University Park for the start of the fall 2023 semester. With this project nearly fully in the rearview, Yarger and her colleagues know that the work around community building is far from over and reaches beyond just students. 

“[Schreyer] benefits by empowering scholars, alumni, advisory board members, and staff to have a voice in shaping their college experience and environment, leading to increased feelings of ownership and belonging,” she said. 

Atherton Hall is unique among University Park residential buildings because its doors are unlocked between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The ground floor lobby, then, is truly a community space accessible to Scholars who live in Atherton, Simmons, other residence halls at University Park, or off campus. With the redesigned space now available to use, Basu is hopeful that it will help Atherton feel like a true “home” for all Scholars in the way Sparks Building is for students in the College of Liberal Arts, or the Westgate Building is for students in the College of Information Sciences and Technology. 

“For a lot of the older Scholars who live off campus, if they’re meeting with faculty members this can be a space for them because there will be conference rooms,” she said. “I hope it’ll be a great place for people to come and feel more physically connected and just hang out. If you want to take a break, don’t want to go all the way back to your apartment you can come hang out here.” 

Mather’s ideal vision for how the space will be used echoes Basu’s. 

“I envision the lively dynamic of other spaces on campus, such as the HUB, Smeal College of Business, East Halls common areas, and the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, right here in Atherton Hall. It’s where current Scholars and their friends can be drawn in and stick around, celebrating who they are and what they are up to at Penn State and beyond. I hope we will have contributed to building a sense of belonging through the power of design.” 

You shared some of your Atherton memories with us

My favorite Atherton memory is of my roommate and I taking a nap in the afternoon and waking up to Dean Mather playing guitar in the courtyard outside our window!

Mabel Tong ’25, Eberly College of Science

I started dating my now husband in 2005, while living in Atherton Hall during my second year. Many evenings, he’d walk me back to Atherton and “drop me off” at the College Ave. entrance. Like many newly dating people, we would often linger at the entrance, not wanting to separate, until finally sharing a good night kiss and going our separate ways.

Fast forward to 2010 and we were back in State College for a football game. We were supposed to meet a friend and she told us to pick her up at Atherton, where she was with her younger sister and sister’s friend. I was taking my time, reminiscing at McLanahan’s, and my boyfriend seemed anxious to get going. Finally, we walked over to Atherton and I noticed there seemed to be a larger-than-usual number of people milling about.

As we stood at the entrance, my friend nowhere in sight, the people milling around converged together and starting singing Brown Eyed Girl. This was the era of flash mobs, so I didn’t think much of it and tried to walk away/ask if we could leave. My boyfriend muttered something along the lines of “if you want,” but didn’t move.

The song finished and they started singing “Unchained Melody,” and I turned to tell him I really wanted to go, only to find him down on one knee, proposing. He had finagled one of the Penn State a cappella groups to come sing two songs that were meaningful in our relationship so he could propose in that doorway that was such a part of our early courtship. Thirteen years, two children (and two dogs!) later, we’re still happily married and living in State College.

Courtney Witmer ’07, Liberal Arts

I spent the summer of 1987 at University Park taking classes and lived in a double unit in Atherton’s basement. There was no air conditioning, so we kept the windows wide open. For the most part thought, the windows were below ground level and didn’t help. It was incredibly hot, but we still had a blast. Fast forward to 2016 and my oldest daughter lived on the first floor of Atherton for two years. There was still no AC, but not nearly as hot! We love that building.

Greg McNicholas ’90, Business