College students back; 30,000 will transform city and campuses.

Byline: Jacqueline Reis

WORCESTER - When Assumption College's first-year students moved in Friday, they were greeted by someone almost as new to the school as they are: President Francesco Cesareo, who took office July 1.

"They're about to enter this exciting new world of expanding their thinking and learning new ideas," said Mr. Cesareo, formerly a dean at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. "There's a lot of energy on campus."

There's more energy in the city, too. The annual influx of approximately 30,000 students to the Worcester area has begun, and those students will find several changes on their campuses since they left in the spring, including new people, policies and buildings.

The biggest change at Becker College this year will be sitting in first-year students' book bags: a new laptop. The college, which has campuses in Worcester and Leicester and saw a slight uptick in its entering class this year, has decided to buy laptops for all full-time freshmen pursuing a traditional (not accelerated) two- or four-year degree. President Ken E. Zirkle said the school has spent the last two years preparing faculty to use the laptops as classroom tools.

"We have to begin doing it," he said of the campus' move toward using laptops and wireless technology. The school also has a new dormitory and a synthetic-turf field at its Leicester campus.

Clark University's newest attraction is Blackstone Hall, a 208-bed residence hall built apartment-style for upperclassmen. The building was designed to be environmentally friendly, but it doesn't skimp on amenities. It has a large plasma television in the main lounge, a fourth floor outdoor patio, air conditioning, and dishwashers in each unit. All those extras carry a price: It costs $7,300 a year for a single in Blackstone Hall and $5,200 for a double, $500 more than the closest option and close to double the college's cheapest options.

Classes already have started at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Students there have to dodge a construction site on Boynton Street, but they can benefit from recently completed projects, such as the newly renovated Alumni Field, complete with improved synthetic turf and resurfaced track; the new pub-style Goat's Head restaurant in Founders' Hall on Boynton Street, which is open to the public and compatible with students' meal plans (except for the restaurant's beer and wine); and Outtakes, a new campus convenience store, said Lorraine Urbanski, a news writer for the school. The construction site beside Founders' Hall on Boynton Street is the beginning of a 232-bed, apartment-style residence hall and a 189-vehicle parking garage that are scheduled to open in fall 2008. As with

Clark's Blackstone Hall, the new hall is being built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.

Not to be out-greened by its colleagues, the College of the Holy Cross also has a building in progress that it hopes will meet criteria for LEED certification. The college's $60 million science building won't be done until January 2009, but the four-story building will link to the existing science building and the social science buildings. In the meantime, Holy Cross plans to open a new access road to upper campus from McKeon Road within a few weeks, according to Kristine Maloney, the school's association director for national communications and media relations. The road will provide more direct access to the Hogan Campus Center and Hart Recreation Center.

Across town, a new 554-space garage at Worcester State College will give commuter students a new place to park when classes start Sept. 5. Freshmen will have already made themselves at home by then; they move in tomorrow.

At other colleges, the newest thing this fall will be the number of students enrolled. The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences has seen a 5 percent increase in its entering class in Worcester from 148 to 156, and Quinsigamond Community College has between 200 and 300 more students entering its two-year degree programs than it did the year before. That doesn't necessarily mean campus will be extra crowded, however: Among the changes at Quinsigamond are increased

online course offerings, including five completely online programs, according to spokesman Victor A. Somma, Jr.

Other changes at Quinsigamond include the imminent closing of the school's pool, which had been open to both students and the community.

Assumption isn't the only Worcester institution of higher learning

with a new leader. The University of Massachusetts Medical School has a new interim chancellor, Dr.

Michael F. Collins, and a new dean and executive deputy chancellor, Dr.

Terence R. Flotte. The two new hires replace Dr. Aaron Lazare, who resigned as chancellor and dean in March.

Contact Jacqueline Reis at [e-mail].

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Sophomore and resident assistant Brian Regan moves a student's belongings while a pile of empty boxes crowds the hallway on the first floor of Mulledy

Hall during freshmen move-in day Saturday at the College of the Holy Cross. (2) Noelene Cervin of Yarmouth helps her daughter, Annie Cervin, make her bed in her dorm room at Mulledy Hall at Holy Cross.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN

T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN