01/22/2026
After two and a half years of renovation, the C-Wing of Cornish and Van Hoesen halls has reopened at SUNY Cortland as a hub for communication and media studies and vital student support services.
The $27 million project included major interior and exterior renovations designed to increase internal space and centralize services.
The two linked buildings will now house upgraded facilities for the Communication and Media Studies Department as well as offices for Conley Counseling and Wellness Services, Disability Resources and the Educational Opportunity Program.
For many years, Paul van der Veur, professor and chair of the Communication and Media Studies Department, saw the renovation as a way to enhance academic majors including cinema study, communication studies, new communication media and media production.
With work now complete, Cornish-Van Hoesen has a new audio production studio, video production studio, on-air radio station, podcasting room and cinema screening room. A student media commons is also bringing outlets such as the Dragon Chronicle newspaper, CSTV and WSUC 90.5 FM into one building for the first time, making it easier for student organizations to collaborate.
Production studios feature “industry standard” sound proofing and equipment, which will allow students to develop skills that keep them contemporary to an ever-changing field, according to van der Veur.
“Students will be able to create content using workflows that they will find in broadcast facilities around the country,” he said. “They’re able now to create content for pretty much any platform that they could want, be it broadcast or social media, to a level that would be acceptable at any television station.”
Another welcome addition is a classroom specifically designed for public speaking, which lets students easily record and review their progress developing the skill.
The resources are something that van der Veur expects to work well for possible journalism projects with local news organizations and with the university’s Entrepreneurship Center. The re-opening of the buildings’ C-Wing also coincides with new courses in podcasting and social media that diversify academic offerings in the department.
Loralee Morrow, senior associate facilities program coordinator, said that all studios, classrooms and the screening room are ADA accessible.
Other building improvements include:
- Three new student lounges: one at the new, main entrance; one at the connection between the Education Building and the C-Wing of Cornish-Van Hoesen Hall and the Student Media Commons.
- Disability Resources’ new Sensory Room and Test Accessibility Services space.
- Updated office space, including frosted privacy glass for rooms used by Conley Counseling and Wellness Services.
- A large equipment checkout room and scene shop.
- A multimedia classroom and writing studio classroom.
- A new enclosed elevator and stairs at the north end of the building.
- Navigation aids installed to ease the transition to a new layout.
- Added restrooms in new, central locations.
There will be an official ribbon ceremony to celebrate the reopening in March, but Cornish and Van Hoesen halls will be fully open to begin the spring semester.
“Faculty and staff have already taken to moving through,” Morrow said. “Access through the space has been sorely missed while it was closed.”