As of spring 2021, ETSU’s Advancement and Alumni offices are located inside the newly renovated Model Mill building.
“It is a beautiful facility,” said Pamela Ritter, the vice president of University Advancement and president of the ETSU foundation.” We worked with Grant Summers Architect. We’ve got 10,000 square feet, and the fundraising arm is on the first floor, and the Alumni Association is on the second floor.”
Model Mill, built in 1909, is located at the corner of Walnut and Sevier Street. Renovations began in 2016 after Summers-Taylor, Inc. acquired the property.
“It’s just a great setting because we’re on that corridor between the university and downtown, so very accessible,” continued Ritter.
Because the offices are still considered part of the university, COVID-19 protocols will continue to limit the activities held in the new facility for the foreseeable future.
“This fall we’re hoping to gradually get into some events,” said Ritter. “We’re going to have smaller events, and maybe more of them.”
The facility also features two conference rooms equipped with high-quality audio-visual equipment with capacity up to 60 people that will be put to use as soon as it is safe to do so.
“We love our new home,” said Whitney Calhoun Goetz, executive director of the ETSU National Alumni Association.
“One of the benefits of our new space is we are under one roof with our colleagues in Advancement,” continued Goetz.
With ETSU’s campus slated to re-open in fall 2021, Goetz expressed her anticipation and optimism for the future of the new space.
“There’s one person in the office each day, the rest of our team is working remotely,” said Goetz.
A silver lining to the pandemic has been the use of Zoom and other communication technologies to bridge the gap between the Alumni Association and some graduates that are no longer local to the area.
“One thing that we have found during the pandemic, in having to utilize technology a lot more, is that we’re able to connect with alumni across the country that may not have been able to come to one of our in-person events, locally,” said Goetz.
Goetz was named executive director in the midst of the pandemic in July 2020.
“Really our location here, in the West Walnut corridor, is that tie between the university and our downtown, so that is super exciting,” said Goetz.
